Stormy weather
by Lovestory81
Summary: Alex got himself into an 'impulsive' engagement, while Stevie tries to hide her feelings from Alex...But what happends when a huge storm comes up and Stevie is forced to spend the night at Killarney?
1. Chapter 1

The alarm is beeping…"Ooah...stuff it!" Stevie complains while she hits the alarm-clock. She's far from being awake. It's to early and she'd drunk to much booze last night, all by herself, feeling lonely. Because her best mate is preparing himself to get married and so their pleasant evenings –as best mates- are as good as over.

Some things have changed, actually a lot of things have changed, since Alex came back –after he got away for two weeks- with his new fiancé Fiona. Even thinking about the name makes Stevie feel sick. She's the one who suppose to be his fiancé or lover. She loves him, more than anything in the world! And she was about to tell him, but –as always- everything went wrong.

Alex and Sandra caught up in a fire, Stevie saved him, but after doing CPR and he finally caught breath again...he left! Because of his anger with his -non-biological- father, Harry. He was hurt and emotions had ran high. Stevie was disappointed, not with him, but with herself...Why? Why couldn't she be honest, just for once...this was her chance and she blew it! That night before she had a dream about Alex, he came along and surprised her. He called her cowgirl, rapped his arms around her, lifted her of the ground and gave her a very romantic kiss...But later, when the dream was over and she saw him he also called her cowgirl, that confused her so much, she was just to nervous and chickened out. Alex thought she was acting weird...he didn't had a clue of what was on her mind...Or maybe he was to busy with what was on his mind? When he wanted to talk to her that day, about Harry..to express his feelings to his best mate, about him being hurt, she didn't wanted to be with him and made all kinds of excuses. Later on, when she finally pulled herself together, she was ready to talk to him, after she opened up about her feelings for Alex to Tess. Finally she was going to be honest, but than she found out what was going on with him. When he was gone, she called him, but no answer, he didn't pick up the phone. Ever since that moment she's just not the same, especially when Alex came back with Fiona. That was such a harsh moment. And now a lot of things have changed...Most of the times, when she sees him, she barely can't even look him in his eyes.

Anyway, this new day arrived, but the sun isn't even up yet. It only shows her first light. It's an early day for Stevie. She has to go to Fisher, for a sale. With Alex. The appointment was made about a couple of months ago...so she couldn't back out from it. It's going to be a long day...Breakfast doesn't taste at all and she just eats a small amount, enough to start the day. Luckily for Stevie no-one is up jet, so they can't see her gruffy face, and she doesn't have to answer all questions about it. After a quick breakfast it's time to pick up Alex. When Stevie's driving her car she already has visions of Fiona, kissing Alex goodbye and saying 'bye' in a very overreacting, fake, sick way. Ooh, that woman, she's getting Stevie on her nerves...Yes, she's jealous, because Fiona has the man SHE'S supposed to be with. She sighs when driving up the Killarny entranceway. No Alex'...She waits a few minutes in the car.

Could her mood get any grumpier? Yes...Now she has to go inside the house to look for him, the opposite from what she wants. With large steps she walks quickly to the door..."Let's get this over and done with", she thinks. Nothing to hear, no sounds or voices. She opens the door and slowly walks into the house, her whole body offering resistance. No one there. Great! Now what? Is she supposed to go to the bedroom and wake him up? That must be the most awful thing to do right now, seeing him with Fiona makes her feel so bad...How would it be seeing them in bed together? While she's the one who should be there, safely, in his strong arms.

"Alex? Are you ready yet?" She yells. No answer, she turns and sighs, feeling really gloomy...She decides not to search for a bedroom-door. All she wants to do is walk away, go home and crawl far under the sheets. And when anybody asks about the sale, she'd say "Sale? What sale?" But just as she wants to walk trough the door, Alex enters the room

"Oi. Cowgirl." He smiles, with sleepy eyes.

"Well, I thought you just dissapeared." She snaps thorny. She can't look at him and so she looks at some pictures at the wall.

"I'm sorry Steves, I overslept. It usually doesn't happen to me." Stevie almost retches when she thinks about it...why did he overslept? Because of his new fiancé? Because they've had a great, special night? Ewgh...She avoids looking at him, because what she feels is probably written all over her face. But than, whatever? He wouldn't notice anyway...He didn't notice any of her feelings jet, did he?

She suddenly clearly looks at him.

"What?" Says Alex, still a bit dull.

"Nothing, we should be going now." She says, acting numbly.

"I didn't had a breaky jet." Stevie is fed up with waiting.

"Then make yourself a toast and eat it in the car." Alex sighs a little irritating, not with Stevie, but more because of being late, he hates it.

"Are you being grumpy because of me being late, or is there something else?" He thinks out loud. Stevie is a little surprised, but she's getting used to his instantly way of having contact sometimes. Her talking immediately softens up

"I dunno, I guess I've been drinking to much booze last night."

Alex smiles. "You weren't in the pub like all the others, so you got drunk all by yourself?" He teases.

"I wasn't drunk." She looks shyly...

"Or you just can't remember..." He nags. It's always nice to tease Stevie. The look on her face is so funny and she always snaps back, Alex loves that...and HE always responds on it.

"Just think about it like you want to, we have to hurry." Alex grabs a peace of bread from the kitchen.

"Next time you're having a private party, let me know, ok?" He says when he enters the livingroom again. Stevie nods. Then they walk outside.

"My ute, or yours?" Stevie asks unstable.

"You could just ask me to drive, if you want to, I'm not the one with a hangover." Stevie loosens up a bit and follows Alex to his black ute.

On their way to the sale, Alex turns on the radio. Stevie is staring out of the open window. Her head leaning on her arm. She sighs when she hears romantic music, song after song...And every time she hears something in the words that suits their situation.

"Hey Stevie, you're really quiet, what's up? This can't be just because you've got a hangover." Stevie's eyes suddenly become bigger, she clears her troath

"Uh, no...I'm just a little moody. Dunno why." Alex pinches his eyes together for a second, as he carefully watches the road.

"You're sure there's nothing else?"...Stevie slowely shakes her head.

"It's not because of me, right?" Stevie now turns her head towards Alex and looks inquisitive.

"Why would it be?" She smartly askes. Alex noticed she's not going to open up. He takes his eyes of the road for a second and looks directly at her.

"Let's change the subject, shall we?" Then he turns his head to watch the road again. Now Stevie laughs, Alex looks towards her, again, for just a second.

"There, that's better, you're much prettier when you smile cowgirl." Alex says, to 'break the ice'. Stevie doesn't respond to that, she instantly feels bees flying threw her stomach...She turns her head and looks out of the window again. Why does he always has to speak to her like that? He makes her feel special. And yet, they're just mates, he's about to get married. That reminds her of the reason not to hang around him so much lately. Which means: no horse-riding together, no pool competition, no long conversations, no 'one on one' parties or anything like that. She just can't handle it, she tries to get rid of her feelings for him, but it's not that simple.

They're quiet for a while and Alex thinks, trying to figure out why she's acting so strangely...he noticed that behaviour before, since he came back from the city.

"We're late...goodbye best sales." Stevie mumbles.

"Well, at least we're having a good time together, finally." What does that suppose to mean? That he misses her too? And yes, her thoughts ar right...

"I miss you Stevie, I miss us hanging out together." Says Alex after a short pause. Stevie is speechless.

"Well?..Don't you miss me, just a little bit?" He teases.

"Yeah, I guess I do." She nervously responds.

"I guess some things have changed, huh?" He says.

"A lot of things have changed Alex." She snaps. Alex pinches with his eyes once more and frowns his eyebrows, as he doesn't get the message. Stevie is now looking at him, waiting for his next reaction, her eyes looking as if she's ready for a fight.

"Hey, don't you snap at me like that, I'm not the one who's rejecting anyone." Stevie feels anger coming up...What the hell is he talking about? Rejection? Wow, this is going to be a great day.

"What? How can you say that! I can't help the change...I'm not the one who's getting married." Alex, who also feel anger coming up, is quiet for a moment.

"I thought you where my best mate, but I guess that changed too." He says offensive. Stevie turns her head a side, that hurts. And this is the opposite of what she wants. She doesn't want to lose him as a mate.

"No, that doesn't changed, I'm still your best mate." She says with a much softer tone.

"I'm not so sure of that, we almost never hang out together any more. We usually went to the pub to play pool or we sat at my place, or yours, talking, laughing and drinking beer. That was fun, I miss that. And it hasn't got anything to do with Fiona." Stevie starts to feel really upset now and confused...She'd missed that to, but she has a very good reason why those times are over.

"Like I told you before, you're getting married...To me it feels a little bit weird if you would hang out more with me then your fiancé." She said it, that word; 'fiancé'...

"But, there's nothing wrong with that, you told me so...remember?" Alex continues.

Stevie gulps and looks at him "I did?"

Alex doesn't look at her "Yep, you've once said; I needed at least one woman who I can be friends with and an other one to be in love with." Stevie is now trapped in her own words. She said that and she can't undo it.

"You're right I said that, but this is different. I never thought about it really...but for a best friend it's not that simple."

Alex sighs and slowly shakes his head...why does she sounds and talks so different for the last couple of weeks? Their friendship is not getting any better, as a matter off fact it's getting worse...But Alex doesn't want to lose this friendship, it's to special, he thinks.

"What are we doing Stevie? Why can't we be best mates just like we always did. I mean, we where so close..I'm not even that close to Dave or any guy I've been friends with." Stevie barely can't speak, instead she looks at him, desperately. Now she's even more confused, this is why she'd avoid him, because of all the questions she'd get. And because they where so close, over the last year they mostly saw each-other more then once in a day...And not for just a moment, they really spend time together. Anyway, Alex is a straight-forwardly man so she believes the time would've come anyway to answer those questions. She suddenly almost laughs inside, why does he have to mention Dave? Or 'any other guy'?

"You're right, we where close, that's why things have changed I guess. There's a woman in your live, you're about to get married with, I want you to spend those special times with her." She lies, while she's forcing a friendly smile on her face.

Stevie tries to loosen up a bit, this is her best mate, it had always been a trusted and easy going it must be possible to loosen up somehow, right now.

She feels so weak inside, especially when the radio plays the song "Apologise." It's to late now...Maybe there's no need to apologise, but at least he needs an explanation, he's really worth that. Alex hears the song to and it touches him, he looks at his side, seeing Stevie staring out of the window again. Maybe she can't help it, she's always a tough, but very sensitive woman, the sudden change could be difficult for her right now. Just because they where so close, he figures. He feels like he needs to cheer her up.

"Hey Stevie, I think we just need to talk a bit more. I don't wanna lose our friendship, it's to valuable. Why don't we have a beer tonight, when we get home." Stevie looks up, but can't look him in his eyes...she's feels to fragile at this moment. But she doesn't want to lose Alex either, so maybe he's right.

"Maybe you're right, if we spend some time together, things might clear up between us." She says calm.

"And maybe, we find ourselfs laughing and talking like we used to do...But not tonight Alex. After this day and the sale and everything I will be to tired." She adds, with a soothing smile.

"What about tomorow?" He urges. Stevie knows it would be good for them to spend an evening together, just like old times.

"Tomorrow's fine." She says, while she hesitates.

Alex smiles happy "Righto, we've got a date then."

Stevie frownes her eyebrows: "A date?"

Alex winks "You know what I mean."

Stevie nods. "What about...Fiona?" She suddenly says, putting on a weird face when she'd pronounced her name, but Alex didn't notice.

"She's at the city, visiting family and friends."

Stevie likes the sound of that, but at the same time it frightens her a bit...Just the two of them being together, is she able to handle that? She doesn't want to be 'just' friends, but she doesn't want to lose him either, so friendship is everything that's left.

"Or are you affraid of being with an engaged man? Because I know I'm irresistible." He teases. Stevie forces a smile on her face, it was a joke, but for her it's true, he IS irresistible.

"You've got nothing to fear when I'm with you Alex Ryan, I'm just your best mate." She now teases him back. Alex smiles again

"Well, I dunno...It suddenly reminds me of something." He smiles. Oh no, what could that be?

"What?" She asks anxiously.

"I once thought we we're just mates, but then I ended up kissing you." He smiles.

"Well, it won't happen again..." Alex looks at her, totally self-confident

"Why not? It happened before." All kinds off feelings run through her mind...

"No, it won't. Never."

Alex smiles again. "Never say never."

Stevie smiles too and looks also amazed "Ooh no you wouldn't cheat on your wife."

Alex, still smiling -because he's enjoying himself teasing her- answers "She's not my wife jet."

Stevie responds shyly, feeling her face turns red. "Alex...No you wouldn't."

Things loosen up a bit between them and Stevie's nerves start to fade. That makes her a lot calmer and she decides it's just Alex she has to deal with, who she knows for such a long time. She tries to push away her deep, passionate feelings for Alex. After a while a nice song called 'the Lambada' plays on the radio.

"I always liked this song, I'm not really a dancer, but I always wish to dance on this song when I hear it..."

Stevie enjoys the song too. " Yeah, it's a nice song, but I never danced on it...Did you often danced with women?"

Alex shakes his head "Nope, sometimes...But I always dance on the Bachelors and Spinsters ball."

Stevie smiles.."Did we ever danced there?"

Alex looks at her "Yes, but not together...You know what? Tomorow we should dance on this song." Stevie is amazed again, if he didn't was engaged, she would say he felt more then friendship.

"Alex.." She says with a warm sound in her voice.

"What? This is my chance right? We never danced before, I want to dance on this song...You never danced on it...We have a 'date' tomorrow, so..." He rattles in a funny way. Stevie frownes..

"I would love to dance with you Alex, but I think mates like us aren't suppose to do that...And just for the record: It's not a date." Alex doesn't get it

"Mates like us?" He continues after a short pause

"What on earth could be wrong with us dancing, it can only be good." He smiles...

"Well, what if it feels TO good?" She honestly suggests.

Alex smiles again "Then what? You reckon something might happen between us Stevie?"

Stevie thinks about it and is quiet for a moment...It seems like he is getting 'on the edge' every time they discuss something. Or was he always like that, and is it only now when she realizes? It's a bit strange, he's engaged! Suddenly she starts to feel a little bit more self-confident. What the hack, with Fiona gone to the city and her lover making such comments to her...

"Well, if we drink beer and we're going to dance, yeah...things might heat up a bit. Because you're irresistible off-course." Alex laughs out loud, she's finally has loosen up and acting like 'Stevie'.

"You're not so bad yourself Stevie." He responds, charming.

Stevie laughs flattered. "Not so bad?"

Alex as directly as he can be, says: "Ok, I'm sorry...I mean you're gorgeous..." Stevie feels her body is getting filled with butterflies...did he just said she's gorgeous?

"Alex...you've never said anything like that to me."

Alex smiles "Well, it must be because of this bloody hot weather...and hey, I'm a bloke...with a very good eyesight." Stevie smiles back at him, how does he do that? Always being so charming and funny.

"What would happen Stevie?" He asks curious.

She blushes..."I dunno..."

Alex is quiet for a moment, but then he pops the question "We never ended up in bed, but you reckon it could've happen?"

Stevie is flabbergasted "How am I ment to answer that Alex? It's a serious question?" He nods as he tries to hide his smile.

"Well I'll try...Hmm...with me finding you irresistible and you finding me gorgeous...Yeah, it could've happen. But just for the record: You're engaged." She couldn't say it more funnier than that. Alex laughs so hard, it almost gets them off the road.

"Watch it!...Hey I want to get there alive Alex Ryan!" She shouts...They both laugh and then it's quiet again...What a ride.

They soon arrive at the sale. They're late, but not to late to do some good deals. They don't have to sell anything, they're there to look around and maybe to buy some good stock. Rob would take them back to Killarney with the cattle-truck. He's there to sell some of Alex' cattle. Alex thought Rob would be perfectly capable of doing that job for him, so he can look around and have an easier day, for once.

"Good looking sheep, aren't they?" She looks at him waiting for a little support.

"Yep, they're good, what's the price?" He let's her do the buying, but takes over with the haggling. Stevie let's him, because she's enjoying it, she loves the way he stands there, the way he talks, so confident but still so cute. Stevie notices sparkles fly through the air every time when his eyes meet hers. He's always a person who makes a lot of eye-contact, Stevie loves it...Sometimes it's hard too, but this time it almost makes her forget he's engaged. When they meet Rob, Alex arranges that Rob takes the sheep to Drovers Run.

They have a great day together, the only thing that's bothering Stevie is that a lot of people ask Alex about his oncoming wedding and about his fiancé. It makes her feel sick again...But all of a sudden he pays all his attention to Stevie again

"Oi cowgirl! Let's go and get something to eat." He insists. Stevie feels relieved, she nods and they head of to the eating counter. When they walk side by side, he smiles at her and pushes her gently in her side.

"Nice day, isn't it mate?"

Stevie agrees "It sure is." She says, as she looks at him, while she blinks her eyes in a cute way...

"I'm so glad we're having this day together, I almost forgot how it is to be with you." He's doing it again! Those comments...It's like he adores her, Stevie thinks.

And he does, Alex doesn't think about Fiona at all. He's just to busy building something up again between him and his best mate. He hates people coming up to him, asking about Fiona and the oncoming marriage...Because he's a Ryan, he's a prominent person, but in his heart he hates it. He tries to avoid people at the end of the day and Stevie noticed that.

"Alex, are you ok?"

Alex stares at the ground "Yeah, I'm fine." When he looks up he sees another person coming towards him

"Actually, I'm not, we're out of here Steves." He says in a funny way, while he grabs her arm and leads her to his ute.

Stevie laughs "You really hate all the attention, don't you?" She says, as if she can read his mind.

Alex sighs "You know, I'm just getting used to the idea of getting married...All those people asking me for a date, I just don't have a date yet and I don't care...why should I hurry?"

Stevie responds in a sensible way, in a way that Alex always carefully listens too and he finds it comforting. "You should get married when YOU think you're ready Alex, not when people say so." She gently puts her finger on his chest, right where his heart beats.

Alex is impressed,he nods "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Stevie." Stevie smiles friendly. Then they take off...

"I would be so happy to finally get to bed." She desires. Alex immediately starts to laugh...He thinks about their conversation that morning. Stevie gets it from the look on his face...She starts laughing too

"You're so bad Alex." They talk and laugh a lot, luckily things obviously cleared up between them. It was a good day. They both head straight to bed when they get home, in their own beds off-course.

_Thanx for reading. This is the first part...Please let me know of you like it or not...review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_*Nick safely came back in my story...*_

Next day is early too...as always. There's always to much work to do at the farm. Stevie is already up for hours and totally forgets it's her turn to make breakfast. Slowly everyone wakes up and they head to the kitchen, but no breakfast.

"It was Stevie's turn." Jodi complains.

"Well, she probable has a very good reason why." Jodi doesn't like Tess' sympathy at all

"You always stand up for her."

Tess smiles "That's right I do...What is it with you anyway? Is is just a morning mood or what?" Nick smiles at his wife while he enters the kitchen.

"Hey wifey, you stood up quickly..." Tess gives him a sweet glance

"I did...I'm sorry darling but Junior here is hungry." She gently strokes her belly and continues with a baby-voice

"Aren't you sweaty? And now mummy is going to make us all breakfast, as your auntie Stevie has forgotten all about it...How could she?" She sarcasticly turns her face to Jodi. Jodi shakes her head. Nick steps on to his wife and puts his hands gently on her belly, while whispering in her ear

"I really missed you when I woke up..." They smile at each-other in a lovely way. Jodi rolls her Kate enters the kitchen. They all have breakfast together. After finishing their plates Jodi and Kate are heading for the troughs as Tess takes a shower first. Nick is heading for Killarney, to catch up on his brother and discuss the plans for work today.

"You're kidding me, you're not even up yet?" Nick asks his brother while he stands next to his bed.

"What?" Alex responds diffused. Nick can't believe it

"What, what? It's 8 am mate." Alex jumps up and takes a better look at his alarm-clock.

"It's the opposite of what happened back at Drovers. All the girls where ready for breakfast, accept the one who's going to make it. She was working, already up for hours. So me and Tess ended up making breakfast, I thought I was late." Alex shakes his -still sleepy- head "I'm sorry mate...I'll be there in a sec, ok?" Nick sighs

"You better be...we have to muster our cattle, remember?" Now Alex sighs too...How could he be late again? He's not like that. While he grabs a toast and some coffee he thinks about the day before. He also thought about it when he got into bed, he couldn't sleep at all. He kept on tossing and turning...Was he awake because of the fact he was lying there alone, without Fiona? Or was he awake because he had such good memories of that day he had with Stevie? Maybe both...

Stevie is fixing the fences while she still can't seem to get rid of her thoughts about the day before. Alex...He was so sweet, so funny and charming. He had said some things that where quite confusing. And she already was confused...now she is even more.

"Hey Stevie, didn't you forget something?" Jodi yells annoyed . Stevie jumps up.

"What?" Jodi rides up to her.

"Well, now we all have to work without having a decent breakfast you know." Stevie looks blank.

"Ooh no! Don't tell me it was my turn." Jodi laughs because of the look Stevie gave her "Uhuh, yes it was...But guess what, Junior was so hungry so we didn't have to wait for you." Kate is there too and tries to figure out why Stevie is up so early.

"Why are you up so early? I thought I was the early bird around here." A male voice behind the fence suddenly says.

"Yeah that's what I thought about Alex too...But he overslept, witch he never does." Stevie suddenly feels all warm inside, when she hears that name.

"He's late again?" She smiles. Nick is flabbergasted.

"What do you mean again?" Stevie shakes her head.

"Never mind..." Nick is determined to find out what's going on.

"So he was late yesterday as well?" Stevie nods...Nick goes on:

"I wonder what's on his mind, he changed ever since he came back." Jodi is thinking out loud "Maybe it's because of her...Fiona. I'm still very unsure if those two are really made for each other...and I can't figure out whether she's nice or not."

Stevie's conscience is speaking to her, she wants to say so much right now. She wants to talk bad about her and make everyone –including Alex- believe he's making the wrong decisions. She must be bad...Anyway, she's not good enough for Alex. Kate responds

"Oh well I think she's really nice, we've had diner with her Jod's, I thought you'd like her too."

"If I have diner with someone and I try to be nice, that doesn't mean I really think she's nice. She's having bad influance on Alex, that's for sure." Jodi snaps. Nick shakes his head.

"Come on ladies, eas up a bit. You're harsh Jodi but I think I have to agree on some things you've just said."

Jodi looks at Kate, very self-confident "See?" Stevie keeps quiet...She doesn't want them to know her opinion.

"Just give her a chance will you? Stevie, why don't you say something about it, he's your best mate after all." Kate says in a defensive way. Stevie now feels like she's being captured in her own thoughts...But no, she can't betray her best mate. She can't say it out loud, only maybe one day if Alex asks for it, but not like this, not now. She smartly turns her face to Nick and then says

"Yeah, but he's your brother...you know him best."

Nick sighs "Well, we can think about it and talk about it, but he's a grown up and it's his decision to marry Fiona. So whether we like her or not, that's the way it's going to be. We just have to accept her." Nick's words stab right through Stevie's heart, it's the truth and nothing but the truth. The man she loves most, who is also her best mate, is getting married...soon. She's to late, her chance is gone. But accept her? No, she will never be able to accept her, 'the other woman', the intruder. She turns het face to the fence, to hide the emotions, written all over her face. Nick continues

"But he did change...that really bothers me. Maybe I should confront him with it." Jodi nods "Yes, that's what family suppose to do, be honest to each other. And it's not you Nick, he has changed ever since he came back with Fiona."

In the distance they hear the sound of a horse, it's Alex who comes galloping towards them. Stevie looks up and stares at him. He looks so stunning and forceful, she really admires him. When he comes closer they see the look on his face, it's grumpy.

"Well good morning to you too Alex." Jodi teases.

"Yep, morning. Leave the 'good' part out of it." He snaps.

Nick is ready to finally get to work "We should go now, we never make it before sunset."

Alex snaps right back at him "Rub it in will yah? I already figured that out smart-ass."

The girls laugh, Nick isn't laughing at all "Don't get on to me like that, I'm not the one who's late." Then Alex touches his hat with his hand, makes some sort of salute and then turns the horse in the right direction.

"Hey cowgirl, we're still on for tonight?" Finally there's a smile on his face when he turns his head to her. Stevie gives him a shy, but sweet glance and then all she can do is nod. He rides away with Nick, the girls wave at them.

"Maybe we should help them." Jodi says. Stevie tries to straighten her face, to get rid of the glance she had when she looked at Alex...

"I guess you're chores of the day aren't done yet, are they?" She says sarcasticly while looking ate the two girls. Jodi looks rejected and disappointed.

"Right." She says. From the look on Kate's face she doesn't like the way Stevie talks to them too.

"Come on Stretch, we're out of here..on to our 'chores of the day'." She says feeling humiliated, while she looks at Stevie.

That hits her. She didn't want to hurt them, but she already did.

"Why do I always stuff up." She says, talking to herself, while shaking her head. Later on Tess shows up.

"What was that all about huh?" She asks without greeting her.

"What was what all about?" Stevie asks with an innocent look on her face.

"Well, I saw the girls...they seemed a bit disappointed. They've worked so hard and fast this morning, after that I told them to help you fixing the fences, so all of you could help the boys with the muster later on...So I asked them what was going on when they arrived at Drovers...They've said something about you being grumpy?" Tess rattles. Stevie looks a bit weird.

"Me being grumpy?" She forces a smile on her face.

"Oh come on Stevie, what's wrong? You're up for hours! You forgot about breakfast...you snap at the girls..what's next?" Tess says in a strong way. She noticed the fake smile on her face and just feels something is going on, she knows Stevie quit a bit now. Stevie is still holding a weak smile on her face.

"I just had a bad night...nothing serious..." She says unstable. She's now looks more like an open book.

"Are you able to cope with Alex his on coming wedding?" Tess says very directly. Stevie just can't believe she has the guts to asks her that. She takes a deep breath, straightens her back, slowely pulls her shoulders up and then turns her face to the fence, wich she was fixing.

"Well, aren't you going to answer me?...You know, there are two options; you tell me what's going on in your mind and be able to clear your mind, or you just keep it to yourself until you can't handle anything any more..."

Then there's a moment of silence, but Stevie isn't turning her face towards Tess. She just doesn't want to talk about it, it's to hard...besides she allready cried so much about all this. And when she cries it seems like it hurts even more, every time she opens up her heart, the pain is to much.

Tess continues. "But you know, if you're not going to open up I'm afraid I have to send you home. I'm going to suspend you from doing your job, as long as it takes for you to open up and be honest...'cause you know, I'm still in charge here." She teases, but Stevie is so busy with her own thoughts, she doesn't notice. She's shocked and turns to Tess immediately.

"You're what? Tess...you can't suspend me! I'm your overseer!" She yells, almost begging.

"So?" Tess pushes, looking at her with questioning eyes. Stevie now gets mad because Tess is pushing her for a straight answer.

"You think you know me so well huh? Why? Why do you ask me about Alex! You know it hurts...You know what happened. I took your advice, I wanted to tell him but it was to late...to late Tess! You already know that, because if it wasn't, then HE would not come back with HER!" She yells, with several emotions written all over her face.

"Now, that's just what I wanted to hear Stevie. I need you to be honest with me, open up a bit...we run this property together, we're like sisters." Tess says very calm.

"I don't want to talk about it, I thought you would get that." Stevie responds, now with a much softer voice...Then it's quiet, Stevie turns her head towards the fence again, tears are filling her eyes.

Tess walks towards her and puts her hand on Stevie's shoulder.

"Hey...it's ok...off-course you're hurt. But I need you to talk to me Stevie. You seem so thoughtless lately, I miss you, I just miss the real Stevie and I think the girls do too." Tess says in a sympathetic way. Stevie turns around and softly starts to cry. Tess gives her a hug.

"I just don't know what to do, I feel so hopeless." She whispers, through her tears.

"I think you're not to late to tell him...and even if he chooses Fiona then at least you're honest." Tess says.

"But I don't want to lose him, I rather not tell him so we can still be best friends." Stevie explains.

"Well are you really his best friend then? If you can't even be honest, how can you call yourself his best friend?"

"Maybe it passes by...I'll have to get over this, once." Stevie says, with a painful heart.

"He will notice, maybe he already does. Maybe he feels something for you too?" Tess says, thinking out loud.

"She's out of town, we're having a nice evening together...it was his idea, because he misses me." Stevie confesses.

"Well, maybe that's your chance." Tess gets ready to leave, but then suddenly she realises something and turns to Stevie again.

"He misses you? That's what he said?" Tess asks with a questioning look on her face and a careful smile. Then they sit down and talk about the day before, about the sales. Tess listens very carefully. Her eyes are getting bigger sometimes, especially when Stevie talks about the Lambada and about the compliments Alex gave her.

"How can this man be engaged?" Tess jokes after Stevie told her everything. They laugh and talk a title longer.

"Not married yet, well...get your chance! He's giving it to ya." Tess winks.

"That's what I thought for a moment ey...with her off to the city, what the hack, he's mine!" They both laugh out loud, but then Stevie gets unstable again, Tess notices.

"You know, you two just have a great evening. Enjoy yourselves, talk, laugh, drink a few beers...good old times, right?" Tess smiles, Stevie nods. Tess is right, don't expect anything.

"But now, since you fixed that fence more then once...ehm, I promised Nick we would help them." She looks at Stevie, begging

"Yeah, yeah..." Stevie sighs. Now she has to face Alex again. She tries to pull herself together before they take off.

Jodi and Kate already joined the boys. Alex is still a bit dull, but tries to do his best.

"Oi! What's on your mind...missing your fiancée?" Nick asks while they gather a few lost calves together.

"Nope, I'm enjoying my time alone...I'm just a bit tired I guess." He slowly answers.

"Your not missing her at all mate?" Nick asks a bit amazed.

"Not really...no, that must be wrong, by the look on your face." He smiles.

"Hmm..I dunno...maybe a bit weird. Every thing's ok with you and her?"

"Yep."

"We never talked about it, but don't you think it's a bit soon for a wedding?" Nick asks straight away.

"I just want to get my life settled, have a family, be happy." Alex says.

"I know you do, but think about it...you're going to spend a life time with her...I just want you to be sure of yourself, and her."

"You don't really like her, do you?" Alex asks suspicious.

"I don't know her Alex...and I'm not sure if you do too...And...she's different." Nick honestly admits.

"Different?"

"You're never serious with these type of girls..." Nick winks.

"Righto." Alex smiles.

Then the conversation is over...Nick is happy he finally said something about it to his brother.

Stevie and Tess join the group.

"Tess, I asked you to help me, but I don't know if it's a good idea...you know..in your condition." Nick shyly says to his wife.

"I'm not disabled Nick." She snaps. Alex laughs...Then he looks around to find his mate.

It's great to do work with her. Ride together, feel the wind, feel the horses underneath them, talk a bit and work hard. That's how his life is and how it's suppose to be. Not with a city girl, talking about shopping, weddings, juwelleries. Alex feels a bit sick when he thinks about that. Now Fiona's here he noticed what kind of person she really is. Not the type of woman he would seriously pick...But hey, after a few nice nights, what was he suppose to do? He wants a woman in his life and as a matter of fact he really likes Fiona, she shines, she's beautiful and she adores him...He thinks he loves her, but he never went down on his knees, that's what the whole world was waiting for, Alex Ryan purposing to the woman of his dreams, in a very romantic way. Alex' mind takes of when he starts to think about his married life...what would it really look like? Would it be as much fun as they had for the last couple of weeks? Is this the woman of his dreams? Would he still be able to work hard and come home and grab a beer? Or would she be the type of girl who wants to go to bed, without having a talk, wich he needs so much sometimes. Is she a mate? A best friend for a whole lifetime? No...But Stevie is...Stevie, she's special, their friendship is so valuable.

"Hey sleepyhead, how are you doing?" Alex is surprised to hear that familiar voice, with the slightest but cute little blush on his face he looks at her.

"Stevie...I'm fine, thanks." He winks. Stevie wants to say something but then Jodi rides towards them, a bit panicking.

"Mom just called, there's a big storm coming this evening." From the look on her face it must be very serious, but we all know Jodi...and Meg. Stevie and Alex, not scared at all, smile at each other.

Kate responds "Well, it could be serious you know..." Stevie and Alex smile again.

"Righto Fred, look I know it's a hard time working with me, but we're going to finish this. Together."

"Before the storm hits." Stevie adds, also teasing.

Kates rides away from them "It's 'Kate' She snaps.

"What is it with them?"She asks, with an annoying tone in her voice, when she joins Jodi again.

"They're always a team, they always work together, help each other out, always talking together, laughing together, drink together...so I guess they also love teasing together, Fred." Jodi laughs.

"That's not funny Stretch." Kate seriously responds.

"I know Squirt, it's disgusting." Jodi smiles.

_I will only seriously continue if you guys review...please let me know what you think about this. It's a great adventure for me to write in English, I need to know if it's good enough ;-) So please...I'm almost begging, lol_


	3. Chapter 3

Alex and Stevie are joking, but they all know it's not going to be just a storm, so they better hurry. Luckily they're all together. After a while Meg showes up too, she decided to help them.

"Always nice to see Meg joining us..." Alex says to Stevie. Stevie nods.

"She's good at it too." She smiles.

"Yep, she is...Jack must've fallen for her when he noticed that...It's great to see a woman horse-riding like that, working hard...and even greater when she's good at it." He says, looking at Stevie with a satisfied smile. Stevie nods shyly, butterflies fill her stomach and she's feeling all warm inside, because she knows she's that kind of woman.

"But hey...Meg may be good, you're even better." He winks. Stevie doesn't know what to say...those compliments...She still can't seem to get it, whether he always was like that or not. Whether he always talked to her like that or not.

"Are you ok Steves? your pretty quiet." Alex asks after a while.

"What?" She immediately returns back into the real world, instead of being inside her head.

"Hello there...I said, are you ok?" Alex carefully smiles. Now Stevie smiles too, she shouldn't have these thoughts here with Alex, what if he notices, like Tess said?

"I'm fine, I was just thinking..." She honestly says.

"Tell me..." Alex looks exited.

"No." She snaps.

"Well, lets get on with it then...come on! Lots of work to do!" He says with a raised voice, while he's making his horse move faster. Stevie joines him. It's so great to ride and work together. When you see those two in the middle of this beautiful, stretched out landscape and the sun shining low in the sky already...it's looks like a photograph from a magazine...perfect couple, wonderful horses and everything in the picture is just perfect, for this moment.

"I think I should go home...we're almost done here anyway, right darling?" Tess says to her husband.

"Yes wifey, that's a good idea, go home and take some rest ok?" Nick says. Before she goes home she decides to talk to Stevie.

"Hey your guys are doing a great job together, as always." She smiles at Stevie and Alex, while she secretly winks at Stevie.

"Yep, we're a great team." Alex says, then he rides towards his brother, as if he knows the girls need to talk in private.

"Your coming home for diner? Or you go with Alex right away?" Tess asks exited.

"Sssh...no diner, it's not a date Tess." Stevie seriously responds.

"I'm just teasing you, come on Stevie, have fun...loosen up, be yourself." Tess says.

"Well, that's exactly what the problem is, if I'm going to be totally myself...I'll probably jump right on him." Tess bursts out laughing. Stevie laughs too, she can be so directly honest, especially when she's speaking from the heart.

"Well, just try not to be totally yourself, but a little more 'Stevie' wouldn't harm anyone."

"Yeah, I guess your right. So what's for diner?" Stevie asks as if she's very hungry.

"You skipped breakfast, you must be hungry. Why don't we put on the barby? But it would be rather mean if we don't invite Alex, don't you think?" Tess asks still exited about everything Stevie told her.

"Yes, it would be mean, but it's also weird if we leave together after the barby...Maybe someone might think something is going on between us." Stevie says, while she hasty looks around her.

"Like I said...Are you coming home for diner?...Maybe it's better if you go with him straight away." Tess says.

"But...I have to take a shower first and...I can't possibly invite myself, can I?" She smiles, still feeling restless...Alex is not far away and what if he hears this weird conversation?

"I thought it wasn't a date...relax Stevie. You just take a shower at home and then you go and have your date." She smiles.

"Sssh!" Stevie snaps. Tess laughs because of the look on Stevie's face.

"Well, your almost done here, I guess I'll see you later, bye!" She friendly says while she rides away.

When Tess gets home she turns on the tv to find out about the storm. The tv is only on for a few seconds when she gets shocked by the size of the storm that's coming. "Wow Junior, that's not quit a small one. We should call daddy so he can do some preparations for this storm, on his way home." She says with a loving voice, while she strokes her belly.

Tess calls Nick to inform everyone. Luckily they're finished and so everyone has time to prepare things for the storm.

"I guess our date is over now." Alex says, with a disappointed look in his eyes.

"No, we're still on Alex. I'm not going to let this storm spoil our evening." She says with calm smile on her face.

"Righto, let's bring it on then hey? You know what, why don't you come over early...Round diner-time? Then you're back home before the storm hits." He says. Stevie almost can't believe it. What she and Tess had in mind actually happens.

"That's fine by me, see you in a little bit then." She forces a smile on her face, but in fact she's feeling nervous. He looks so exited, so happy and charming when he looks at her. The evening didn't even started yet and Alex is already enjoying it...very much.

What she thinks is true, he is indeed enjoying it already. At home he rushes to prepare everything around the house for the storm. After that he goes inside to take a shower. It's getting late already and he still has to prepare diner. But then the phone rings.

"Hi, you need a hand up there?" Nick asks.

"Nope, it's all done, I'm safe now." He jokes.

"I've heard you have a date tonight..." Nick suddenly says.

"Yeah, I need some time alone with my best friend, I've really missed her you know." He confesses.

"Hmm, well I hope you have a nice evening, don't let her know you missed her that much."

"What's that suppose to mean." Alex snaps.

"I dunno exactly, but I always thought from the way you look at her she must be a very best friend...and I mean, a very good best friend." Nick honestly admits.

"Don't tell me you think we are mates with benefits." He seriously asks.

Nick laughs "What makes you think I would come up with that idea?" Then it's quiet for a moment...

"But you know...She's thát kind of woman...Your kind of woman I mean, someone you could spend a lifetime with." Nick adds.

_Please review! Let me know what you think..._


	4. Chapter 4

Alex is getting confused now, he's unable to respond friendly, so he hangs up the phone. Runs his fingers through his hair and plumbs down on the couch. He feels anger coming up...How could he say that? He's about to get married and his own brother tells him he probable hasn't found the right woman? At least not to spend a lifetime with? Stevie is thát kind of woman? Why would he say that? Maybe Tess said something to him, or maybe Stevie knows more about this. She could be walking trough the door every minute now...Does he has to bring this up? Talk about this subject...or not...He feels confused. Suddenly the phone rings again.

"Alex ryan." He softly says...

"Hi baby..How are ya?" He says, forcing himself to sound happy.

"I miss you só much Alex...Can't wait to fall into your arms again, I'm coming home tomorrow-evening."

"Can't wait to see you too." He says insensible. But Fiona doesn't notice, she's to busy with herself, her family and her own feelings and thoughts.

"I bought a wedding-dress. It's perfect, I love it." She says, sounding very happy and overeating.

"That's soon...I mean, that's nice. Good. Can't wait to see you in it." For a second he feels a cutting pain going trough his stomach.

"We should pick a date real soon baby." She says longing for the day when she finally is allowed to call herself 'Mrs Ryan'. The pain in his stomach fades away, but now a muggy feeling comes up.

"Yep, well I have to go now, storm is coming, so I should prepare everything." He lies and hangs up the phone.

"Love you!" She almost yells, but her fiancée doesn't respond. But she doesn't even bother to call him again...she's just to busy with her own selfish thoughts. She doesn't really care what's in HIS heart, what's on HIS mind, what HE really thinks about. What kind of dress HE would've liked...No it's all about her.

It's quiet again. Stevie hasn't arrived yet and Alex isn't feeling any happier, he feels even more confused now. He feels affected, something touched his heart right at a painful spot. Maybe Nick is right about women, he never realy falls for a woman like Fiona. No...What his brother said to him this day reminds him of Claire. She was a real woman though...He really fel for her, that's the kind of women he could really fall in love with. She was his best mate. He has that special banding with Stevie too...But he is in love with Fiona, right? His mind keeps on going. He leans forward, with his head down, his hands holding his head...He struggles to hold his tears...To much thoughts right now.

"Alex..." She says very touched when she walks in. Stevie gets upset too when she finds Alex, almost crying, sitting on the couch. She kneels down in front of him and gently touches his wrist with her warm and soft hand.

"Hey...what's wrong?" She asks very concerned about her best mate. He looks up, Stevie gets filled with emotions when his eyes meet hers. He looks so sad. Then there's a humble smile on his face.

"You look good Stevie." He gently blinks his eyes in a very cute way.

"Well, thank you...but what's going on Alex?" Secretly she hopes Fiona just called him to call of the wedding...so he can fall into her arms right now.

"I don't wanna talk about it right now...this should be a nice evening, we should have fun."

"Yeah, I know, but if you open up your heart to your best friend, it might help you know...all the fun comes later." She friendly smiles at her secret lover.

"Ok, ok..." He looks deeply into her eyes and then continues.

"I feel so confused right now Stevie...I've been talking to Nick today...about women, about Fiona, about our oncoming wedding. He's unsure about me making the right decisions. If she's right for me...what do you reckon?" Stevie is speechless. No! He didn't asked that! How does she has to answer that. Why does he starts about Fiona, her rival, her enemy...It's quiet for a moment.

"From the look on your face you seem to dislike her too." Alex says kind of disappointed.

"Well, she's different..." She carefully says, without telling a lie.

"That's exactly what Nick said." He says, a bit amazed.

"He did?...Well I told you before, you should get married when YOU think it's time. You have to be sure about this Alex. It doesn't matter what other people think about Fiona, it's about you, what do YOU feel?" She says while she touches his chest with her finger, like she did before, at the sales.

Now she also touched his heart just like his brother did, not only on the outside, but also on the inside...The struggle to hold his tears is hopeless now...Stevie's shocked when she sees tears starting running down his cheeks.

"Oh Alex..." She says, very touched by his emotions. She decides to sit next to him on the couch and puts her arm around him, she gently strokes his back. With her other hand she gently touches his arm. Then he suddenly turns towards her and wraps his arms around her. They both hold on to each-other very tightly.

After a while they let go, They look at each-other and Stevie carefully wipes his cheeks with her soft hands, while she sympatheticly looks him in his eyes. Sparkles fly trough the sky. The look in their eyes is so special, the way they look at each-other is amazing.

"Look at you...you look so sad, it hurts to see you like this." She says with a sensitive tone in her voice. It's true, her heart feels painful when she sees him like this.

"I'm sorry Stevie, I don't want to hurt you." He whispers through his tears.

"I know...but it's ok." She says, while she finds it hard not to cry with him right now. She tenderly holds his face with one hand while she still looks right into his eyes.

"It's Claire...I think about her a lot, since the wedding-plans. Back then, I knew what I was doing, I wasn't insecure at all...I was totally myself...and look at me now. I'm supposed to be happy, to be thrilled about the oncoming wedding. I should feel butterflies in my stomach when she calls me...But..." He doesn't finish his sentence and takes a deep breath. They're quiet, Stevie doesn't know what to say. She brings her hand down from his face and her eyes are avoiding his eyes now. She decides to create a little distance, to protect herself.

Alex thinks he's not much fun to be with and wants to change the subject.

"You must be starving...and I'm a lousy cook...Haven't prepared anything yet." He suddenly says, still sounding depressed.

"Well, lets make diner together then." She smiles.

"Goodo." He wipes his tears and stands up, straightens his back and runs his hands trough his hair...and then takes a deep breath.

"Beer?" He says, with a careful smile on his face.

"Yes...Good to see you smile again, mate." She says while blinking her eyes in a sweet way.

"I'm sorry this evening had to start like this, it's a bit embarrassing."

"Don't say that...It's ok."

They prepare diner for the two of them. They stand in the kitchen as if they're always cooking together; it's a perfect team.

"Smels good mate." Alex says.

"You know, I think it's good that you have these feelings. It makes you wonder. It makes you seriously think about it, about life." Stevie suddenly knows how to respond on what happened a few minutes ago.

"You're right." He shortly answers.

"It's not a shame to have doubts." She adds.

"I know one thing for sure; I'm so happy with you as my best friend...and I'm glad we're spending this evening together." He smiles.

"Well I'm lucky to have a friend like you Alex." She says.

No romantic diner with candles...No, they sit on the couch watching tv.

"Wow, that storm is huge." Stevie says, a bit shocked by the weather forecasts.

"Yep it is...I hope the damage will be limited."

"Me too...Look at that...I thought it was going to take a while before it hits." She says, a bit shocked.

"It lookes like it's coming a lot sooner." Alex mumbles.

"Well, I better hurry...I should get home." She says, feeling very sorry that their nice evening is over. Alex immediately stands up and walks up and down the room.

"Hey, you haven't finished you plate yet."

"I'm not hungry any-more...come on, let's watch the sky on the porch, with a nice cold one." He says, trying to stop her from leaving.

"Ok, just one..." She smiles.

They sit outside together, watching the stars slowly disappear, because of the approaching threatening storm.

"Thanks Stevie...or did I already said that." He says.

"It's always nice to hear...especially from you." She responds with sparkles in her eyes. It's ok, her nerves are gone. No one is there, just them. No Fiona or anyone else to spoil their 'date'. Alex doesn't want Stevie to go, but it's safer if she goes now, the wind is already getting much stronger.

"You should go now, you want me to take you home?" He says with a caring sound in his voice.

"No, you shouldn't...I don't want you on the road when the storm hits."

They stand up, Stevie has to get ready to leave now, but first she has to go to the toilet.

When she returns she finds Alex sitting on the porch again, staring into the sky...He doesn't look at her, but already feels her presence.

"This is going to be the biggest storm we've had in years." He says. Stevie is a bit surprised that he already noticed her being there, but then responds.

"That sounds serious...should I be scared right now?"

"Not if you're with me." He smirks.

"Yeah, right...Well I should go now Alex, before things get really serious." Alex frowns his eyebrows.

"I mean the storm..." She shyly smiles.

"I know that." He says, feeling a little bit embarrassed about the misunderstanding.

Stevie walks towards him to give him a hug...When they hug each-other he whispers.

"And we didn't even danced yet..."

Stevie feels her cheeks are glowing, he reminds her of their conversation they've had about dancing together...

When he walks her to the car they notice the wind is really getting much stronger now...big raindrops start to fall from the sky. By the time they reach the car the raindrops suddenly change into hailstones. Alex doesn't hesitate and grabs Stevie's arm, he tries to walks her back to the house, but she struggles.

"What are you doing? I have to go now!" She yells, trying to raise her voice above the howling wind and falling hailstones. The fast and rough wind increases and the hailstones are getting bigger...Alex wants to go inside immediately.

"It's to late Stevie!"

"But my car is right here!" She still thinks she can make it to Drovers on time.

"Don't be stupid!" He says angry, as he puts one arm under her legs, lifts her of the ground and caries her towards the house.

"What are you doing! Put me down!" But Alex is determined to get themselves in a safer place. Both of them are soaking wet when they finally enter the house, where he carefully puts her onto her feet again.

"I have to go home Alex." Stevie says, while she moves a bit weird because of her wet and cold clothes.

"Well, it's to late now, I'm afraid you have to stay..." He smirks. Stevie is now getting nervous again...Stay? This storm might take a while before it gets over and it's late, so she has to spend the night there, with Alex? The look on Stevie's face makes Alex smile even more.

"Oh come on...don't tell me you don't like sleepovers?"...He's quiet for a moment, looking at her to catch another funny look.

"Just be honest...you always wanted to spend a night with me..." He teases.

"You said it yourself; I'm irresistible." He continues, while the roaring wind is making it;s way around the house. By the sounds of it a huge thunderstorm is not far away.

"Ok, you made yourself perfectly clear Alex. Enough now, this storm worries me. Maybe I should call the girls." She says. But Alex is still in a funny mood...

"What do wanna do huh? Tell them you're spending the night with me?"

"Stop it Alex, this is serious."

"Miss tough-woman is getting a little scared huh?"

"Why don't you stop teasing me!"

"Oh come on, let's just get on with our nice evening together,"He says, a little bit more serious. Now Stevie has to laugh too...she takes a good look at herself and then at Alex.

"Like this? Look at us...soaking wet."

"I wouldn't mind if you put it out." He teases again.

"Alex..." She says, blushing.

"Hey, I'm a bloke."

"An engaged man you mean." She says, confronting him.

He leads her to the bathroom where she can change. She refuses to wear Fiona's clothes, but Alex has a shirt for her.

"You don't fit in my pants, but I could get you one from Fiona."

"No thanks, I'm fine...your shirt is long enough." Then she comes out, now it's Alex turn to change clothes.

"Not long enough to hide you beautiful legs." He smirks, while he walks in and closes the door. Stevie is blushing again...and feels butterflies waking up in her stomach again. But she wants to make some things clear.

"Why do you always do that huh?"

"Do what?" He asks from behind the door, as if he hasn't got a clue.

"Well..." She stammers...hesitating if she's going to say what she wants to say.

"Sometimes it's almost like you're flirting with me..." She said it! Truth comes closer now, she feels her heart pounding up her throat. It's quiet, no responds...Alex is thinking. He feels affected again...What did she say? He's flirting? Maybe he is...what if he is doing that without noticing? It makes him wonder...When he finally puts his head trough his shirt he slowly walks to the door. He has a thoughtless look on his face when he opens the door. He pinches his eyes together and frowns his eyebrows when he directly looks at her. Stevie just stands there, waiting for an answer. She's had time enough to pull herself together before she would stand there face to face with him again.

"I dunno why..." He stammers, while the strong look in his eys doesn't fade away, Stevie's eyes are also still making contact, she waits for more...

"Maybe I should apologise...But you're right...and I like flirting with ya sometimes."

"But...we're mates...and you're not saying those things to Dave." She continues the confrontation.

"I would if he had such legs..." They both burst out laughing. Then they walk to the living-room again.

"It's kind of flattering you know...But it can be confusing sometimes...like I said; we're mates." She says.

"Best mates." He adds.

He walks to the kitchen to get some cold beer. They sit down. Stevie sips her beer and thinks about what's just been said.

"You think it's annoying?...By the way, I'm not the only one who's flirting."

"No...who else is flirting?" She looks very questioning and is curious.

"You..." He honestly lets her know.

"With who?" She smiles sarcasticly. Alex laughs...Then the phone rings.

"You're saved by the bell cowgirl." He jokes.

"Hey Tess, yeah we're fine..."

"No Stevie is not coming home."

"Yeah...Much safer..."

"We haven't had a storm like this in years."

"Jodi and Kate are still in the cottage?..dunno if that's safe enough, you'd better send Nick to get them out of there...just in case." Alex talks to Tess while Stevie is walking up and down the room...she feels nervous, what would everyone think about her staying over at Killarney? Then suddenly the the connection breaks down.

"Tess?...Oh that mongrel thing!" Alex complains...but its not the wurst of all, because a few seconds later their in a totally dark house..

"Great! No lights either."

"Where do you keep your candles?" Stevie asks, starting to feel a little frightened.

"Dunno exactly...you're scared mate?"

"Why would I be."

"By the sound of your voice, you must be." He says.

"Just tell me we're the bloody candles are." She snaps.

Together they manage to create some light...They have a lot of fun searching in the dark and off-course they bump in to eachother every now and then.

"Maybe I should go outside to check everything..." Alex says while sipping another beer.

"Or you out of your mind? You're not going to."

"Says who?" He sarcasticly asks.

"Alex...it's not safe and by the way, we're safe in here...please don't go outside."

Suddenly something hits the window, Stevie jumps up and puts her hands before her face. Alex is a bit shocked too...but he still is sitting on the couch.

"Eas up a bit will ya, it's probably just a branch or something, sit down."

"I think we'd better get some sleep...when we wake up, it's all over." She says, still feeling a little bit scared...she tries to hide that, she doesn't want Alex to notice, wich he already did.

"But I think we might just ignore the storm and finish our nice evening. Maybe you need another beer." He smiles.

"Booze, you mean." She forces a smile on her face.

"Righto, I think I might have something stronger for ya."

"Wait a minute, maybe it's not such a good idea." She shyly admits.

"Oh come on, I'll join ya...besides it makes you sleep quicker." He winks.

The strong drinks are on the table soon...While Stevie tastes it, suddenly the lights go on again.

"Nice...now I can put on some music." He says, very exited...After a while Stevie's nervousness is coming back when she hears the music, it's the Lambada.

"May I have this dance?" sounds a very warm, charming voice from behind her. She turns around, almost to scared to look at him...He laughs and nods at her, to make her stand up. The way he looks makes her feel so weak inside. She gently lifts one eyebrow and stares at him. He nods again...But Stevie shakes her head.

"No..." She softly says.

"Oh don't be shy...I noticed your a little tipsy already, so that has to loosen you up. Let's dance, please...We never danced before...come on." He begs. Stevie now stands up and walks towards him. Her whole body-language is telling she's not comfortable at all. She carefully comes closer, looking a bit clumsy. Alex can't hold his laughter any longer.

"Loosen up will ya! It's me...Alex...just Alex." He says, very down to earth.

Stevie is thinking 'just Alex'?...If he only knew about what she felt deep inside her heart. To her it's not just a dance. And because she is indeed feeling a little tipsy, she's afraid of herself...afraid she might loosen up to much. Luckily the song is almost over...she thinks...but in fact it's a cd! So Alex repeats the song. He moves a little closer to her and then they slowly start to dance. But this song isn't slow at all...Thanx to the booze Stevie manages to pull herself together and dances. Alex gets exited, he likes the song, but he likes dancing on it even more, especially with Stevie. He takes her by her hands. A moment later he suddenly puts his hands on her waist. Stevie's butterflies wake up again! She looks very shy, but puts her face down for a second so he will not notice. She's really doing her best to loosen up a bit...and finally she manages to succeed. In fact she starts to like this, dancing with him. By the end of the song they dance very close...it's kind of a sensual dance for a moment.

When the song is over Stevie decides to sit down. She immediately fals of her cloud...he's getting married! This is so bad...she shouldn't be here. Several emotions run trough her body. A guilty look on her face appears, Alex notices.

"Hey cowgirl, you ok?"

"No, I'm not, this is exactly what I was afraid of...being to close." She blabbers.

"Too close?" He's stunned. She feels helpless for a moment and gets irritated by the way he reacts, as if nothing is going on, like always.

"Right...nothing's going on, nothing happened, there are definitely no special feelings or whatsoever!" She snaps. Alex is totally flabbergasted.

"Come again?"

"Look at yourself...you are such a player Alex! Engaged, your fiancée isn't here and your flirting with you best mate! Having a nice evening huh? What do you want Alex! What do you want from me?" She blabbers, now with a raised voice. The booze went up to her head which makes some people speak from the heart straight away.

"Nothing...what's wrong with ya?" He calmly says, but inside he feels very touched. Stevie is quiet for a moment, thinking about what she just said. Alex suddenly smiles, while he continues.

"A player huh?...Tell me Stevie, am I making things so confusing for ya?" Her thinking stops and she responds quickly.

"Remember when we sat down the road, because the car broke down? It was like you felt something for me...The way you looked at me, the way you kissed me, but –as always- nothing happens afterwards, we just stay friends...and yes, you're a player." She's like an open book now...Alex is stunned again.

"What? YOU wanted to be friends first!..and just for the record: you kissed me too."

"We agreed on being friends." She says, now with a much softer tone.

"You wanted something else back then?" He feels so confused right now.

"Well?" He insists.

"Maybe..." She clearly looks him in his eyes, she wants to say it all out loud, open her heart, tell him she loves him more than anything. But then he avoids her eys, he stands up, looking mad.

"What the hell is going on with us Stevie..." He says while walking up and down the room. Stevie starts to smile, because she doesn't know it either.

"What's so funny?" he snaps, while he takes a quick look at her.

She stands up too and approaches him carefully.

"I'm sorry...it's the booze I guess...and it's late."

"Well, I'm pretty confused now, thanx..." He says.

"We should talk about this later, not now, we've had to much booze." She smiles again, tries to cheer him up.

"Hmm." He grumbles, while he sits down again. Stevie follows him and puts her arm around him.

"I didn't mean to hurt you Alex."

"I know, you didn't...it's just confusing. Just be honest with me ok? Next time you bring these things up, get to point." He demands.

"Yeah you're right...I'm sorry, what I really wanted to say is; I just get confused every now and then because it looks and feels like there's more between us sometimes..."

"I have to agree on that." He surprisingly says. Now Stevie is the one who's flabbergasted. Alex continues.

"After our kiss I've had more of those moments...feeling like kissing you." He confesses. Stevie looks speechless, her eyes are seeking his. She feels all warm inside again. Maybe she should be mad, but she can't right now, he's so cute...so sweet, so charming.

"I guess that makes two of us..." She confesses. Their eyes finally meet and that strong look is there again, for a moment they seem to be caught up in it. Their faces slowly start to attract each-other. But with only a little space left between them Stevie pulls away.

"That's what I mean Alex." She hesitatingly whispers. He stands up, frowns his eyebrows and walks around, with an chaotic look on his face. He wants to walk away, but then turns around, runs his fingers trough his hair.

"Maybe we should get some sleep." He says, Stevie nods

After finishing their drinks they head to the bathroom...

"Can I use your toothbrush?" She smirks, as if nothing happened.

"Sure you can...can you get a towel?" He asks. Stevie walks towards the towels, but she trips. Alex burst out laughing.

"You're really tipsy mate."

"Tell me about it..." She painfully smiles when she stands up straight again.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine." She sighs as she brings a towel his way. Together they brush their teeth. When their done Stevie starts to laugh because just when Alex wants to hang the towel, it falls on the floor.

"You're far from sober as well..." She giggles. He laughs and their small fight seems to be forgotten.

'I guess you're not sleeping in my bed?" He teases. Stevie doesn't respond but just stares at him.

"Oops, I did it again, didn't I?" They both laugh again.

"Wait a minute...I want you to sleep in my bed." She slowly starts to look mad...

"Don't look at me like that, I wasn't finished...you sleep in my bed, I'll take the couch."

"Right..." She shyly smiles.

Stevie walks to the living-room, while Alex gets himself a blanket and a pillow. When he comes back Stevie can tell from the look on his face he's ready to sleep. He looks even cuter when he's tired though.

"Come on, I'll lead you to the bedroom." Stevie now struggles inside..she actually doesn't want to sleep in the same bed as Fiona.

"I'll take the couch, you take the bed." She suddenly says.

"No, I want you to sleep well."

"I will, on the couch." She insists. He doesn't want to argue with her again, so he accepts.

"Right, good night then..." He's feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Night." She responds. Alex walks to the bedroom, while Stevie blows out the candles...Then suddenly the lights pop out again and shortly after that something outside hits the house very hard...Stevie's shocked.

"Alex!" She yells, very scared.

"Alex! Where the hell are you? Get back here, please." She says with tears in her eyes now.

"Coming! It's dark, haven't you noticed?" He sarcasticly yells from the hallway.

He enters the living-room again.

"Where are you?" Just out of the blue someone wraps her arms tightly around him and pushes her cheek against his.

"Did you hear that?" She says without feeling embarrassed.

"I reckon you make me more nervous then that stupid storm."

"I'm scared." She softly says.

"Hey...it's ok, I'm right here. I'll stay with you for a while if you want to." He whispers

"Till I fall asleep?" She asks in a sweet way.

"Yes, off-course...you want me to put on those candles again?" He says with a low voice.

"No, I'm fine." Stevie carefully crawles on to the couch.

_Please review...If you want me to continue... ;-)_


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks for your reviews, I really appriciate that! Takes down a lot of insecurity...Don't hesitate to leave me a review. If you like the chapters before, you will sure like this one ;-)_

Finally there's a peaceful silence in the living room. Alex is sitting next to the couch while Stevie tries to get some sleep...But during the silenceness they get more focussed on the storm...Alex thinks about all the reparing he has to do tomorrow...and Stevie is thinking about what might happen. She was so scared when something hit the house, she just can't let go of the thought that something might hit the window and hurt them. Alex struggles to keep his eyes open, he leans forward, his head resting on his arms. He lifts his eyebrows:

"You're sleeping yet?"

"No, not really..." She mumbles. He sighs...

"Alex, your exhausted, maybe you should go to bed, I'm fine now...and if anything is wrong I'll call ya."

"No I'm staying right here Steves." He says with a warm sound in his voice.

"But you need some sleep too, why don't you get your things so you can sleep next to me."

"On the floor, right?" He answers hesitatingly.

"Yes I think that would be best..." She says, but in fact Stevie is longing for him, especially after this nice evening together, after quit some booze and dancing together...It's his fold though, he made it happen, he gives her hope, because of all the compliments he gives her and his flirting attempts.

"You know what?...I don't really like sleeping on the floor...But why don't you come with me, so we both have a good night of sleep." He suddenly says.

"Huh?" She doesn't know what to say exactly.

"In my bed...come on Stevie, the bed is big enough." He says, feeling a little bit exited. He stands up, almost being sure about her following him.

"Hey, where are you going? I dunno if that's such a good idea, remember our discussions lately?" She says sarcasticly.

"We're adults." He shortly answers.

"That's exactly why it's not a good idea." She seriously says, Alex bursts out laughing. Then he walks back and finds her hand, he pulls her up a little bit.

"Come on."

"But..." She hesitatingly responds.

"That's it, I've had it with ya...Goodnight Stevie." He lets go of her hand and walks away. But Stevie doesn't want to stay there all by herself. Quickly she grabs her blanket and pillow and tries to follow him, but it's not so easy in the dark...

"Alex?" She says with fear. Then suddenly a voice from beside her whispers...

"I'm right here cowgirl...changed your mind haven't ya?" Stevie is shocked for a moment because she tought he wasn't in the same room anymore.

"You knew I would follow you." She says very crafty. Then he seeks her hand again and leads her to the bedroom.

"I'm used to sleep on the rightside." He says while they enter the bedroom.

"Me too." She lies, but she refusses to lay on the same side as Fiona.

"Ok you're my guest, I'll just stay awake all night." He says sarcasticly.

They hop in the bed and strech out...It feels good to be in bed finally. But it's also weird, being in bed with Alex...He's engaged, he's about to get married! His Fiancée is away and now he's in bed with his best mate.

"It's funny isn't it?" He asks as if he's capaple of reading her mind.

"Yeah...it sure is." She shyly answers.

"Sweet dreams mate."

"You too Alex."

There is definitely more tension between the two, because they're sharing the bed. But as a matter of fact, the're just to tired to think or talk about it. When Stevie nestles herself into a comfortable position, her cheek touching the soft pillow at last, it makes her feel even more tired. She falls asleep very quickly. Alex is lying on his back, holding his hands at the back of his head, staring towards the ceilling. He's still thinking about this day. About the discussions he had with Stevie and about his conversations with his brother. Some things suddenly seem less confussing, he feels calmer inside, he tries to figure out why. His mind keeps on going for a while, then he finally he manages to fall asleep too.

Sleeping in a strange bed makes some people sleep much lighter than they usually do. So Stevie wakes up every now and then...when she does, she sometimes incidently touches Alex. But he's in a deep sleep. The third time she wakes up, she's a little shocked about the position she's in. Her upperchest is leaning on his, her hand resting on his shoulder...and one leg is strangled into his legs. When she realizes het whole body is frozen for a moment and she feels her cheeks are glowing...luckily he's asleep, missing this embarresing moment. Stevie tries to pull her leg away and wants to turn to her other side. But then Alex makes a moaning sound. 'Please don't wake up.' She says to herself, while she still tries to create a little distance. But Alex is searching with his hands, when he touches her body, he pulls her towards him even more closer, then he sighs very deeply, it sounds kind of satisfying. Stevie's flabbergasted...she sighs too and butterflies are starting to whirl trough her whole body now. Being so close to him confronts her with how much she is in love with him. She wonders how they'd became so close...Did she moved towards him, or did he pull her towards him? And even then...did he notices it's her, or is he presuming it's Fiona who's lying next to him? When she finally manages to pull away and turns on her other side, she fals asleep again...

A short while after that, she wakes up again, in the exact same position she was in before...But now it doesn't really bother her, she honestly admits to herself. In fact, it's very cosy, it feels really good to be so close to him, to feel his warm body against hers and to hear his heartbeat. She sighs and tries to enjoy every moment of it. Even the butterflies rushing trough her body seem to feel plessant at this moment. When she hears a soft moaning sound from Alex again she smiles satisfied and gently strokes his shoulder with her fingertips. As if he answers her touch she suddenly feels him wrapping his arms around her. He holds on very tight and makes another moaning sound. Is he dreaming? Is he assuming he's holding his fiancée?

'Stevie...' He suddenly moans in a yearning way. She's is shock again! He's not thinking of Fiona at all...

By the sound of his breathing Stevie figures he's still asleep. Now she's really confussed, again, maybe more confussed then she'd been for the last couple of weeks. Could Tess be right? Maybe he feels something too but is blinded because of his stupid impulsive engagement? Or maybe he's to scared to bring it up, because he thinks Stevie is not feeling the same? Or he protects himself from these feelings, because of what happened with Claire? All quistions start to pop up...she realises she will not get all the answers, as long as she's not honest with him. But maybe he's just saying her name because of their nice evening together? Stevie feels so unsure of herself right now. But she's not moving, she wants to feel his touch, his warmth.

Then it's Alex' turn to wake up...He blinks his eyes when he also notices the closeness with his best mate. He feels calm though. He carefully senses her body, which is very close to him. With his other hand he touches her red and curly hair and slowly senses her attractive feminent smel...He takes a deep breath. He remembers the last night he spend with his fiancée and tries to compare it, but there's really nothing to compare with. This is totally something else. He struggles to go to sleep again...What should he do? Wake her up and talk about their 'situation'? He desides to focus on the sounds of the storm, while he stays close to Stevie, gently touching her back with his warm hands every now and then. Suddenly he hears her sighing...

"Stevie?" He softly says, hoping that she will wake up...so he can see her reaction. Stevie tosses and sighs again. He strokes her cheek.

"Stevie?" Now he's determind to wake her up, this can't wait. He feels so different, this day...it feels like it made him change. His brother and his best mate made him realize some important things. He feels so warm inside and is anxious for Stevie to wake up. She streches out a bit and pinches her eyes together...She wakes up and lifts her head.

"Morning cowgirl." He charmingly says with a soft voice. Stevie takes a deep breath, she is not so shocked, because she woke up like this before, only now Alex is awake, that feels kind of embarresing.

"Well hello to you too..." She says, sounding calmer then she really feels. In the darkness they can just see eachothers eyes.

"What's the time?" She asks.

"Dunno...no electricitiy remember?" He smartly answers.

"Right..so by the sounds of it the storm isn't over yet." She says disapointed.

"Nope...but your safe." He smiles. They talk to eachother as if nothing weird is going on…like they're always lying on top of eachother. Stevie notices his warm hands on her body...it feels so good, but also a bit strange. She clears her troath and wants to get up, so she can move to her side of the bed.

"It's ok..." He whispers and pulls her against his chest again. Stevie looks quistioning at him.

"Alex...It's very cosy and all, but I think we shouldn't be this close."

"We're mates." He shortly says, while he moves his hands from her back to the matras.

"That's why…and just for the record you're getting m..."

She's trying to say something, but he doesn't let her finish her sentence, instead he runs his fingers trough her hair and when he touches the back of her head, he gently, but quickly, pulls her towards him. Stevie has no time to think about what's happening, she wants to, but then their lips finally meet...the touch is so special. It's like their first kiss. The tension between them changes into love, lot's of love. Alex feels all warm inside and after a few minutes butterflies are filling his stomach. It's so intens that they have to think about breathing every now and then. They both truggle to break of the kiss, but finally Stevie pulls away, she jumps up turns her face and stares into the darkness.

"What the hell you think you're doing?" She says, filled with several emotions. But she tries to hold back the tears.

"I'm sorry Stevie..." He sadly says.

"What's that all about huh?" She demands.

"About us I guess..." He says, while pushes himself up, to sit next to her. Stevie shakes her head.

"Us?...There is no 'us'. You're about to get married! -Like I told you so many times before-...What where you thinking Alex? Having a little fun just before you're tied up?"

She's not amused. She loves him so much, but this only makes things worse. To bad she's snapping it out like this, it sounds harsh. He's touched by her emotions as well, and because of the whole situation. But in some way he feels anger coming up.

"I would never use you like that, I reckon you know that." He stricly says. That made her shut up for a moment...

Just as she wants to speak, something hits the window very hard.

"That bloody storm!" Alex says, while Stevie suddenly wrappes her arms around him.

"I don't love you..." She whispers. It makes Alex smile.

"That's the best denial I've ever heard mate."

"Don't call me 'mate'." She snaps. She feels a little bit down now.

"I'll take that as a compliment...how should I call you from now on?" He smirks.

"This is not the time to tease me Alex." She says, while their still in eachothers arms. Alex strokes her back...and when he thinks she's a bit calmer he pushes her away and cups her face with his hands.

"The time has come for me to confess." He softly says, while he clearly looks at her, to make some seriously eyecontact in the darkness. Stevie sighs and is feeling blank.

"Look I don't wanna tease ya, but I just dunno how to act right now. Some things have changed between us today, and yesterday and even before that I guess...I feel sad and happy at the same time…very confusing. Maybe I made the wrong choices. Mates should be honest to eachother right?" He honestly says. Stevie is feeling quilty now, because if someone isn't honest, it's her.

"I love you Alex...that's the truth and I should've said it much earlier...That's why I'm reacting like this, because I can't handle this. When you kiss me it makes me feel like I never want to let you go again...but you're egaged. I should've told you this a long time ago, but I blew up my chances...It's to late now." She says, while tears are filling her eyes. Alex is listening very carefully and the longer she talks, the more it makes him smile. He feels happy.

"Yeah, I guess it is...I mean, it was. Tell me, if I'm a bloke who hates unfairness, would I kiss you just like that?...Being egaged and all..." He aks. Stevie looks strangely, she doesn't get the point.

"Well you just did." She responds hesitatingly.

"I ment; would I kiss you without feeling something for ya?" He says, longing forward to hear her answer. She's just staring at him and takes a pause. She lifts her eyebrows as her eyes are getting a little bigger.

"I guess not...?" She says, with doubt.

He does not answer, but instead he just looks at her. Then it's quiet again, they both think about everything. They're still very tired tough...so they both lay down again and stare at the ceilling. Their conversation ended just like that. After a wile they fall asleep again.

_Again...I'd love to hear whether you like it or not... ;-)_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When the sun is staring to rise Stevie wakes up again.

"Good morning cowgirl." She hears a warm voice talking to her. Alex is already awake and is lying on his side. Leaning with his head on one hand, staring at her, with sleepy but shiny eyes. She can't hide her smile. It's great to wake up next to the man she loves most. He suddenly falls back onto his pillow again and moves a little bit closer towards her. Stevie turns towards him and sighs when she clearly looks at him. Finally darkness is gone and they can really see each other now. There are obviously some changes in the way they look at each other, the expressions on their faces is different. The storm is gone, but there's another one coming...a different kind of storm...

"I still have that confession to make." He says while a whirling storm of butterflies inside him, finds its way through his whole body. The butterflies are not there because he's anxious to see his fiancée again, who is come home this evening.

Stevie has an inviting look on her face and is ready for it. She feels finally something good is coming towards her. His eyes are so gorgeous, it's almost hard not to look into them. But she also noticed some thing's changed...his presence is no longer giving her feelings of tension...in fact it makes her feel very special, calm and loved. That must have a reason.

"Bring it on." She smiles, a few hours of sleep and some thinking made her also a lot calmer.

"I think I love you." He then softly and spontanious says with the sweetest smile on his face, blinking his eyes very charming. Stevie smiles like she haven't smiled for quit some time, she looks a bit sleepy, she rubs her eyes and then her eyes are getting a little bigger. She lifts one eyebrow.

"You 'think'?" She asks. He moves his head more closer to hers and tries to kiss her again, but Stevie pulls away, just before their lips touch each other.

"A confession should be much more then this Alex." She teases.

"I thought it would be enough. To me it's a huge confession." He says. Stevie is still smiling. She turns around on her belly and crawls a little closer towards him. Her hands are holding her head.

"It's more then enough..." She sighs, as she gives him a lovely, sweet glance.

"But..." She continues.

"Fiona?" He guesses.

"Yeah…"

"Like I said; I probable made some wrong disicions." He says, sounding a little depressed now.

"I think you don't really wanna talk about this right now."

"You know me so well Stevie." He forces a smile on his face and tries to kiss her again. She playfully pulls away again.

"Hey, why do ya keep on doing that...That's not very nice Stevie." He says sarcasticly.

"It still feels like cheating a little bit..." She says, a bit shy.

"I'm the one who's cheating, I'm the one who should feel guilty...which is actually weird, I don't." He says, forcing another smile, almost unaware of the fact he has to break up his engagement some time soon. Stevie gives him a sweet glance, but inside it still doesn't seem to 'land'...That he's finally hers. Her dream is coming true...The love of her live is in love with her too. Their quiet for a moment...

"We should cut the teasing...I think we should to talk about it right now, it's hard for me though." He suddenly says.

Stevie frowns her eyebrows, she doesn't ask him anything, because she doesn't want to push him. He rubs his eyes and dicides to sit up straight. But he leans forward straight away."I feel like crying...again...what a loser." He thinks out loud. Now Stevie goes up to sit next to him and carefully puts her arm around him. He slowely shakes his head and then bows it.

"We did it all wrong Steves, I did it all so wrong...where was I? I just wasn't myself, I headed off to the city because I couldn't face Harry. I was stubborn and didn't want to talk about my feelings. Fiona is the perfect woman for a man who doesn't want to express his feelings. Because the only thing she really cares for is herself and her family, HER things, HER feelings, HER damn wedding! It's HERS, not mine...never was, never will be! It's her ring, her dress, even HER shoes...I didn't want to see those things, I guess I was numb, because I was still feeling hurt inside. If I only shared those feelings with you...back then...If I only had spoken from the heart when we had our first kiss, instead of waiting. Waiting for you to dicide what's best for me, for us...'Friends first'...?...that's the dumbest agreement we ever made! We where friends, we already where Stevie." He honestly speaks from the heart...Stevie is overwhelmed...

"I guess that was the longest explanation you've ever gave to me." She responds, takes a deep breath and continues:

" ...But I called you Alex...You didn't answer the phone." She emotionally says.

"I threw it away while I was driving." He painfully admits.

"You could've called me when you arrived in the city..."

"But I didn't." He sounds even more depressed now. Tears are starting to fill his eyes. Stevie doesn't notice because they're not looking at each other and his head is still leaning forward.

"And what about our first kiss...What's your point?" Stevie says.

"Come on, sparkles flew trough the air back then...I just know...We both felt all warm inside, we where longing for each other, even before that kiss. Falling madly in love, which scared us off a bit, but we decided to ignore the whole thing...Right?" He says, trying to make a statement.

"Look at me...please." She begs, without answering. Alex moves his head up, he's done with hiding his feelings...done with this 'new' Alex, it's time for the good 'old' Alex to show up again. He realises that himself too, he's tough, but also very sensitive and a kind of person who needs to talk about his feelings every now and then.

So now Stevie can see his face, she notices the tears in his eyes when she looks at him. It touches her so much, it makes her heart ache. She nods at him, to let him know she wants to hug him. But he's not moving at all, he just stares at her.

"Look at you..." She symphateticly says. She moves closer towards him to give him a loving embrace, they both hold on very tightly. Alex bursts out crying, she never saw him like this. He's devastated. In just a matter of time his whole body shivers.

"Alex...You're shaking..." Stevie whispers.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." He stammers.

"Sorry for what?"

"I've hurt you..that's the last thing I've ever wanted."

"Oh come here you. I'm sorry too, I should've be honest with you. That could've saved me some tears." She talks while she carefully pulls him down on the bed.

They lay down again, still hugging each other. Stevie strokes his hair and then looks at him, she cups his face with one hand and wipes his cheek with her thumb. They clearly look into each others eyes. Alex feels so loved, it almost feels overwhelming. He sighs before the next tears fall down on the pillow. He's still shivering and struggles to breath properly. Stevie always feels compassion for this man, but now even more.

He cries it all out for a while, then he's getting calmer and just when he's about to fall asleep again he says:

"I reckon I never cried like this since Claire died. I reckon you're the only one who will ever see me like this. Kind of special you know, seeing the great and always tough Alex Ryan like this." He says, while he tries to put on a loving smile.

"But I know better...I always knew you're not as tough as you look." She says, while their eyes meet again.

Stevie can't help herself, she's so touched by the fact that Alex has just given his whole heart to her. She starts to realise this is real. He loves her, her best mate. He wants to share his deepest feelings with her. Also bringing Claire up is hard for her...tears start to run down her cheeks as well. Alex didn't expect Stevie to cry.

"Hey...sshh...it's ok. I didn't mean to upset you." He sympatheticly says. Stevie wipes her own tears and looks at him with a very affected expression on her face.

"I just can't be strong for such a long time at these moments." She sniffs.

"I don't expect you to be strong, I'm just grateful that your there for me...I need you Stevie." He calmly says.

"Well I need you too...I guess we both need each other, to be stong or just to cry together sometimes." She smiles through her tears. Alex has a concerned look on his face and he gently caresses her face. The strong look into each others eyes doesn't fade away. It's the perfect time for a romantic kiss, but they get interrupted...

"Stevie! Are you guys awake yet?" They both pitch upright when they hear Tess her voice. Stevie starts to giggle when she sees the 'catched' expression on Alex' face.

"There's nothing to laugh about, hide..." He snaps in a funny way, while he opens up the blankets and gives her some sort of sign to go under there, as if Tess wouldn't notice anything. Now she starts to laugh even more.

"We're busted Alex..." She says while she pulls a fake concerned face.

"Get out of my bed, or I'll kick you out." He says with a fake angry look on his face.

They both are laughing, still sitting on the bed when Tess enters the room. She looks amazed...

"Right..." She says, shortly after that a tiny smile appears on her honest face. Tiny is rare in Tess her case, usually when she smiles, her whole face smiles...

"Ok: I didn't see this, I didn't caught you two in the same bed and I don't see that sparkles in your eyes!...And I definitely don't feel the love floating through the air around here!" She says, with finally a big smile. Alex and Stevie smile too, although it's a careful smile.

Then all of a sudden Alex turns his face to Stevie, he looks very questioning and whispers.

"Does she...?" It's quite for a moment, Stevie has a painful look on her face and pinches with her eyes for a second...

"Yes, she knows...I'm sorry, I had to tell someone." She admits.

"So the whole world knows, but you didn't had the guts to tell me?" Alex' happy face slowely fades away.

"I was going to...I was scared." She sighs.

"Not to scared to tell them about your feelings for ME...it was about ME Stevie." He says, feeling angry and hurt. They both seem to 'forget' Tess' presence, who is to stunned to say something. Stevie tries to calm Alex down and wants to prevent a conflict.

"Look, we already talked about all this, I explained everything to you..."

"Not about; you told someone else before you told me. You where so afraid, to scared to tell me, but you could tell Tess? I can't believe this...what about; your my best mate?...Huh?" He demands, now even more angry.

Stevie notices this is leading nowhere...She knows how much Alex hates unfairness. He's such a straightforward man, honesty is so important. When someone tells him a lie, you better have a good reson or story before you can make it up to him. She decides to get up and leave. While she sits on the edge of the bed, ready to go, she finds it hard not to say anything.

"I only told Tess, not the whole world...Sometimes it's easier to tell someone else, instead of the person which it's about." She painfully admits...Alex wants to snap at her but she continues.

"Off-course I wanted to tell you...you know I wanted too. Don't make me say that I didn't got the opportunity because you threw that bloody phone away!" She says, irritated...Alex shakes his head. Stevie wants to walk away and he wants to yell at her, but Tess thinks it's time to break in.

"Look, I'm not here to caught you two or anything and I'm not here to be in the middle of this fight or whatever it might be...I'm here because I need you Stevie, we need you...the windmill broke down last night in the storm..." Then she looks at Alex "...And we could use an extra pair of hands, you know." With strain she forces a friendly smile on her face. Stevie has already left to the bathroom, she walked away when Tess turned her face to Alex. She puts on her clothes, which she had on last night. For a moment she remembers how they got wet, but luckily they're dry now.

"Righto." Alex shortly responds to Tess, before he gets of the bed to get ready.

Then Tess goes after Stevie, when she finds her, she leans against the wall with her arms crossed.

"So I guess you're not coming to Drovers with Alex?" She sarcasticly says.

"It's not funny Tess." Stevie mumbles while she takes a short uncertain look at herself in the mirror.

"No, you're right, it's not...and I hate to be in the middle of this, so sort it out." Tess says, now more serious. Stevie doesn't respond, she only pulls a face. Then they both decide to leave Killarney.

When Stevie walks trough the hallway Alex shows up, gently grabs her by her waist and gives her a short, but passionate kiss. Stevie pushes him away with two hands and gives him an angry look. Alex bows his head down and carefully shakes it. Then he clearly looks at her.

"Listen I don't want to fight with you..." He says with a low voice. But Stevie feels hurt.

"Think about it before you start a fight next time." She snaps and walks away.

Their romance is over all of a sudden...is it? Probable not, because they always react so intensive at each other. Also in a fight, unfortunately.

When the girls arive at the windmill they find Kate, Jodi and Nick allready working on it. Stevie and Tess greet the girls and start to work immediately. Stevie works really hard, tries not to think about Alex and is avoiding conversations or even worse; questions. She's just not making contact with anyone.

Nick's phone is ringing...

"Hello..."

"If that isn't my dearest brother...Could you bring our tractor and some gear on your way here?" Stevie gets all warm inside when she figures it's Alex on the phone.

"Right, thanks mate...What?...Yeah, Stevie's here..." Nick answers his brother, while he turns his face to Stevie. She feels her cheeks are glowing and hopes no one will notice. She makes a sign with her hand, which tells Nick she doesn't want to talk to Alex. When she does that, it feels kind of dumb, 'cause now probable everyone wants to know what's going on. Nick continues the conversation.

"What did you do to her? She obviously doesn't want to talk to ya. Poor Stevie. You're really good with women ey?" Nick teases. On the other side of the phone Alex is teasing back, but in fact he feels even more bad...and guilty.

"You two are having a fight, again?" Jodi flaps out...before Stevie can respond she continues...

"You guys are really good at fighting, to bad...you even spend the night there, that had to be very cosy." Jodi says sarcasticly. Stevie bows her head for a second and tries to avoid eye contact. Nick finished his conversation on the phone and turns his face to Stevie again.

"What's going on between Alex and you? He sounded a little upset." Nick asks straightforwardly. Stevie suddenly feels a cutting pain going trough her stomach.

"Aah, it's nothing, just the usual." She lies.

"Didn't sound very 'usual' to me."

"Well, it is...ok?" She snaps. Nick looks questioning at her and then he turns his face to Tess, who pulls him a face. By the look of that face he has to stop asking Stevie. So he nods at his wife, who then looks satisfied.

After a while of hard work they decide to stop and drink something. Now it's Kate's turn to say something to Stevie...

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, couldn't do any better. Thanks Kate."

"You don't actually feel really good, don't you?...I mean, that fight you have with Alex...You hate it, I just know...Fighting with your best mate hurts, doesn't it? But you know my nonna always says; the persons which you have the greatest fights with, are the ones you love most." Kate rattles, looking very serious and at the end of her sentence she looks exited.

"Thanks Kate, that makes me feel a lot better." Stevie sarcasticly says, while she rolls her eyes. Kate scrapes her troath and turns her face. Jodi thinks about what Kate just said and it makes her wonder.

"Oh wait a minute...something happened between you guys right?...Last night... And I bet it wasn't a fight." Jodi teases. Everyone else is laughing, Stevie tries to laugh too, but inside she feels 'caught' again. Nick looks at Tess with questioning eyes. Tess pulls her shoulders up, as if she doesn't have a clue. Stevie walks around the group and slowly creates some more distance, before she gets more questions...

After they've finished their drinks Tess is walking towards Stevie, who is sitting on the fence. She reaches her hand out and touches her shoulder.

"Are you ok Stevie?" She asks. Stevie puls up her shoulders and turns her face towards Tess, she obviously isn't feeling comfortable at all. She sighs.

"No, not really..." Stevie sighs again.

"He will come around you know." Tess smiles.

"I know, but I thought we've just talked it all over..." She says, then there quiet for a moment and just look at the beautiful pastures around them. It's a beautiful day, clear blue sky, the sun already up high in the sky. Stevie takes a deep breath and thinks about what's happened last night. Why did it had to end like this?

"What happened between you two Stevie?" Tess asks, but no answer follows, Stevie is keeping her mouth shut and just stares at her.

"Oh come on, you where not sharing the bed as two best friends, right?" Tess smiles...But still, there's no answer.

"Stevie?" Tess is still smiling.

"Ok, ok...you're right...but I don't want to talk about it." Stevie says, while she secretly smiles back at her.

"Your secret is safe with me..."

"Tess!" Stevie says while she anxiously looks around her.

"Oh please...you always tell me everything...please tell me Fiona's out and you're in." They both burst out laughing.

"Now Kate would say she's a nice person and it's mean to talk about her like that, she can't help it." Stevie says, Tess giggles again.

"Yes, she would...but tell me more, I want to hear it all."

"There's nothing to tell..."

"Ok, but I only want to know one thing: Did you take my advice?" Tess asks, while she's looking forward to hear the answer.

"Yeah...I did...kind of...or maybe I didn't..."

"Oh come on! You're so mean! Tell me more, please..." But Stevie isn't going to change her mind. They both head back to the windmill and get back to work.

"Take it easy wifey." Nick says.

"I'm not disabled Nick, I'm pregnant...it's not a disease you know." She teases...the girls laugh. Nick shakes his head.

"Aren't you going to say something back?" Stevie asks.

"I know when to keep my mouth shut, to prevent a fight –which I'll never win- It's not always nice to be around so many women sometimes." He smirks.

"So why you're still here?" Stevie teases...The girls burst out laughing.

"Because I can't let Alex do all the work here alone with you girls."

I'm sure he'll be fine, we won't bite." Jodi responds. Tess walks towards her husband and gives him a sweet glance, followed by a kiss. She whispers:

"I'm fine, I just can't sit in the house, doing nothing, you know that...I'll take it easy, I promise."

"I know you will, but I just have to watch over you, that's my job." He looks charming at her and now he gives her a kiss.

"Hey, hey...we're working here." Jodi teases.

_A review would be nice...It motivates to continue..._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

After a while they all hear a tractor coming their way. It's Alex who finally arrives.

"Watch closely how Stevie and Alex act when their around each other." Jodi whispers to Kate. Jodi thinks Stevie acts suspicious. And because of their strong friendship and the way they always look at each other she thinks something might've happened between them last night and that's probable the reason why they're have a fight. She shared her thoughts with Kate, off-course.

"I still doubt it, Alex is about to get married." Kate whispers back at her friend. Jodi rolls her eyes.

"Right...with someone who he just met...in only one week he made up his mind to marry her, the woman of his dreams -which she obviously is not-. He can't be serious, that's so not 'Alex'." Jodi sarcasticly says.

"Your right about the part that it's to short to made up his mind, but we don't know her that well, maybe she is in fact the woman of his dreams." Kate responds.

"We know her almost as long as he does squirt." Jodi says, it makes Kate laugh, she wants to say something but Jodi continues..

"And besides..you've never met Claire, SHE was the woman of his dreams...if you've known her, you wouldn't find it strange that I think something might've happened between Stevie and Alex. They where always together, and since Fiona is in the picture, they hardly spend any time together...so there's definitely something going on." Jodi says in a convincing way.

"And, I noticed when Stevie rescued Alex - I was doing CPR on Sandra- Stevie didn't even noticed Rob went back into the burning house...She couldn't get her eyes of Alex...I had to scream the top of my longs to get her attention..It wasn't just her best mate who she was saving back then." Jodi adds.

"Ssh, here he comes..." Kate says, being a little scared that maybe someone might hear their conversation. Then suddenly Nick walks towards them, instead of walking towards his brother.

"Hey, I thought you've said we're working here...You should stop the chatting and take over the real work, you know Tess' condition." He says, kind of protecting.

"Yeah Nick, you're right..." Jodi says, without truly paying attention to Nick, her eyes are focussed on Alex his arrival.

Stevie noticed Alex a long time before anyone else did. While she's working she couldn't get her eyes of the tractor. She just had to look in his direction more than once. She should feel butterflies, she should feel all warm inside, but instead she only feels confused. Some scenes from last night are crossing her mind. But when Alex comes closer it's like her mind suddenly goes blank...What does she have to say to him? How will he react? Are they still having a fight? It would be better though, to continue the fighting, because then the others won't notice there's more between them, she figures.

Tess notices the expression on Stevie's face, so she decides to be the first one to say hi to Alex. Nick follows shortly after his wife.

"Hi Alex. Good to have you here." Tess says, while Alex jumps out of the tractor.

"So how are ya?" Nick asks.

"I'm fine, how are you? That was some kind of storm we've had last night." He answers.

"Yeah, it was bad, we haven't had a storm like that in years. Lot's of work to do too, I'll lend you a hand at Killarney when we finished here, mate." Nick says to his brother.

"Goodo, thanks mate." He smiles, but in fact he isn't feeling so happy.

"So you're feeling a little better now?" Nick asks

"Better then when?" Alex asks inquisitive.

"When I called you, it seemed like you where not so happy, maybe because you're having a fight with your best mate." Nick asks straightforwardly.

"I couldn't do any better mate." He lies, to prevent more questions about it.

Alex doesn't look at Stevie yet, but soon he has to, because she's walking straight at him. Jodi and Kate are trying to pay fully attention now. Stevie tries to act cool, but in fact she gets a little weak inside when she sees Alex. He looks so hot in that jeans with only a dark-blue undershirt with that. She suddenly remembers -when she discovered she felt more fore him- he once was chopping wood and wore the same clothes...She felt so embarrassed when he saw her checking him out that day, but it was also a funny moment. But still, she's a little mad at him...And she's stubborn, she just can't be nice and act normal right now.

"Good, you've finally made it...there's lot's of work to do. We almost have the windmill ready to go up again." Stevie bluntly says, acting cool. Alex expected some sort of reaction like this, he wants to get his mind clear by working hard, but he also doesn't want Stevie to feel satisfied right now. They're both stubborn, especially when they're having a fight.

"Well, don't just stand here, let's get on with it then." He says, playing the same game as she does. Stevie tries to stay cool and nods at him, then she turns towards the windmill. She feels anger coming up again. How could he act so businesslike all of a sudden? She doesn't think about her own 'cool' attitude.

Kate and Jodi try to follow everything, but in the end they look a little amazed at each other.

"They're just having a fight stretch." Kate shakes her head and pulls a face.

"No, there is deffenitly something going on, look at their body-language, it says more than enough."

"I think we should get to work Jodes." Kate says and walks away. Jodi shakes her head and follows her.

"But Kate..." Jodi says when she tries to catch up on her friend.

"No stop thinking like that, it's not fair, they're supposed to be our friends." Kate says, now even more serious.

While everyone is working on the windmill, Stevie and Alex exchange some looks at each other. They actually miss each other, but they won't give in that easily. Tess notices the looks between them and has to laugh about it. She whispers at Stevie.

"You're so stubborn...why don't you just talk to each other."

"It's not that simple Tess, besides it's better to have a fight, 'cause if we're not..." She whispers back and pulls her a funny face.

"What about; just act normal?"

"We are." Stevie insists.

"Right..." Tess smiles. Stevie frowns her eyebrows.

"We are acting normal, Tess."

"Right..." Tess repeats in a funny way.

"Stevie can you get that wrench for me?" Alex asks after a while, when he points at a wrench right next to her. Stevie doesn't say a word and pulls her shoulders up.

"Come on, give me the stupid wrench." He rudely asks.

"That's it, now I'm definitely not giving it to you." She snaps.

"You're acting like a kid, Stevie." He says, when he reluctantly walks up to her to get the wrench. Stevie fakes a smile.

"I'm acting like a kid?...Do you ever take a close look in the mirror?" She says defiantly.

"You bet I do!" He says with a raised voice, feeling more anger coming up.

"Off-course you do, that's why you're so full of yourself." Stevie rudely snaps.

"That's it, I've had it with ya!" Alex yells and grabs her by her arm, he pulls her up and leads her away from the windmill and their friends – who are watching and hearing everything-

"What the hell is going on with ya?" He asks with rage, when the others can't hear them any more. Stevie is a bit shocked by the fact that Alex just pulled her up like that. It actually calmed her down a bit.

"I can't believe you just grabbed me like that." She says, sounding unstable.

"If you're acting like a kid, I'll treat you like one." He says, his eyes spitting fire. Stevie shyly smiles...

"Sorry...but you can be such a bastard sometimes." Stevie says with a much calmer voice.

"Is that a compliment or what?...Oh, this is so confusing! What are we doing?" He says, while he walks around her, feeling frustrated.

"I know, I'm not easy going ether...can we just act like friends again?" She asks.

"ACT like friends? Or BE friends again?" He asks back.

"Both...I guess.." Stevie says, feeling confused again.

"But I want it all, I want you Stevie.."

"Well, if you're waiting for the right moment; there isn't going to be one."

"What? Fiona isn't even back yet! Don't you dare to push me like that!" He says, raising his voice again.

"I'm not...I will never push you into anything Alex, you know that..and don't you start a fight again!"

"I reckon we we're still in the middle of it..." He forces himself not to smile right now.

"No let's cut the fighting, it makes us both feel bad."

"Ok fine, I'll try to act normal. But only if you do too..." He says, followed by a tiny smile. He wants to get back to work and turns away from Stevie.

"I think we should give each other a hug." Stevie says, kind of teasing.

"Yeah, let the whole world know about us right now." He sarcastically says, rolling his eyes.

"Dummy, we hugged many times before, best mates right? That's what we have to make them think." She winks at him.

"Righto, let's perform we're the best mates ever." He sarcastically says and walks towards her to give her a hug. They both quickly pull away and look a bit oncomfortable.

"Ok! Here's what we'll do, I'll stand here, doing the havy part, Stevie I need you right next to me...Jodi and Kate on the sides and Tess, you better observe the whole thing." Nick demands.

Tess immediately walks away from the windmill, she doesn't want to bring their unborn child in any danger. Everyone does exactly what Nick said and Alex attaches the chains on to the windmill and the tractor.

"You brought those old chains with ya? Their rusty mate." Nick says, a bit worried.

"Couldn't find the other ones, this should do the trick, their maybe old, but not useless." Alex answers.

"Old is not a problem, but they're rusty, I don't want them to break." Nick says.

"They won't mate. We'll have this thing up in no time." Alex sounds very sure of himself, and the chains.

When everything and everyone is ready to finally lift the windmill they see someone coming in their direction, it's a woman. Alex turns down the engine and jumps out of the tractor to walk towards his fiancée. Stevie starts to feel sick again. Fiona is very happy to see Alex again and can't wait untill she can fall into his arms again, she walks faster and faster...

"Oh Alex, I missed you so much!" She says, very overreacting.

"Hi baby, nice to have ya back." He lies. Fiona forces herself into his arms, a satisfying smile on her face appears. It makes Stevie feel even more sicker than she already felt. She's back, to bad...Last night there where many moments that she'd forgotten about her...sometimes it was almost like she wouldn't come back.

There she is and there Stevie stands, with both feet solid on the ground...She definitely fel of her cloud. Off-course she's hoping Fiona will fall of her cloud some time soon too, but from the way Alex acts it won't be any time soon...Did he lied to her? He hates lying...But maybe he's too scared?

Alex feels everyone has their eyes focussed on them, it feels uncomfortable, besides some things definitely changed. He has changed over one night. The good old Alex is back and soon everyone will know. He will be honest about his feelings, to Harry, to Stevie and especially to Fiona. But off-course he wants the timing to be right, and that's where he goes wrong. He should've just said it right away, 'cause now Fiona thinks nothing's wrong, everything is ok.

Tess walks towards Stevie and rolls her eyes.

"Well, that's some kind of come back...You must be thrilled..." Tess sarcastically says.

"I thought you where going to say something comforting."

"Sorry...I just see it so clearly all of a sudden, you and cowboy over there belong to each other and I'm looking forward to see that happen." She smiles.

"That's more like it." Stevie smiles too and stretches her back. The appearance of Fiona made her feel sick, but seeing her with Alex makes Stevie feel even stronger. The thoughts of last night and Alex his words, just a few moments ago, make her feel secure all of a sudden. Until Fiona walks up to her...Stevie and Tess look at each other.

"Hi Stevie, I think I should thank you..." Fiona says.

"For what?"

"Watching over my fiancée last night. I heard you've had a great evening together." Fiona fakes a smile, in fact she's feeling really jealous.

"You're welcome." Stevie forces a smile too. Then Fiona walks to Alex again and kisses him.

Alex immediately remembers the kiss he had before this one. It was so much better, by the thoughts of that he pulls away.

"I'm sorry baby, I'm kind off busy right now."

"That's ok, we catch up later, I've got so much to tell you." Fiona says.

But Alex isn't looking forward to hear her stories. Her being here makes him change again, he becomes softer and a little solitary-minded, which is so not Alex. He climbs upon the tractor and waits until everyone is in position again.

The time has finally come to get the windmill up on his feet again. Stevie is so ready, she feels strong because of several emotions running trough her body. She wants to work really hard, like she has to prove something. It's like she wants to do this all by herself, she almost stands Nick in his way.

"Hey, watch it Stevie, move a little bit."

"No you move, I can do this." She says with a raised voice.

"Alex, stop the damn thing!" Nick yells.

"Now what?" Alex yells back. Nick turns his face to Stevie.

"Listen we have to do this together, don't know what's gotten in to ya, but just work with me, ok?" Nick snaps.

"Let's just get this thing up." She responds.

"We will, but only if you're being sensible." Nick says, now with a much softer tone.

"I am...What are we waiting for, Alex start the bloody thing!" Stevie yells. Everyone else looks at each other. Even Fiona looks questioning, while she watches everything standing next to Tess. Nick smiles and shakes his head, he then nods at his brother.

"Eas up a bit will ya!" Alex yells back. He knows what's gotten into her.

"It's ok Alex...Go on, start the bloody thing." Nick says...Stevie smiles.

Everything looks good, so far, Alex carefully pulls the windmill up with the tractor and the rest is helping pushing and leading it in the right direction. Stevie pushes real hard, she just needed this, to get her mind clear or something. The rusty chains seem to hold everything until it makes a weird noise.

"Hold on Alex!" Nick yells.

"No, we're almost there, don't stop again!" Stevie responds.

"I'm in charge now Stevie."

"And I'm the overseer, I know what I'm doing."

"I know, but it has to be safe, or else we put the whole thing down again." Nick calmly says, while Alex stops pulling the windmill.

"Everything looks ok from here." Tess lets her husband know.

"We're doing fine, Stevie's right, let's do this, we're almost there." Jodi now interferes.

"Only if it's perfectly safe Jodes, Nick's right." Kate says. Alex looks behind him to see if the chains are holding the windmill.

"I reckon we'll get him on his feet Nick." He agrees with Stevie. Stevie nods satisfied.

They are totaly unaware of the fact that the chains are slowly breaking...Alex starts to pull again and everyone is pushing as hard as they can. Slowly the windmill goes up...

Tess suddenly sees some sort of piece from the chain that is sticking out, but before she can say something they all hear a big crack!

The windmill falls down a bit, but the chains are still seem to hold it. The girls and boys are a bit shocked, accept Stevie. When another crack follows Nick jumps aside, so are Jodi and Kate. But Stevie is so focussed, she makes a critical mistake by not stepping aside...the windmill falls down and Stevie gets stuck underneath one of the supporting beams. Alex gets the shock of his live when he looks behind him. The girls yell and Tess and Fiona run to Stevie. Nick is already by her side.


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh my God, Stevie..." Nick says. Tess is panicing.

"Stevie! Stevie, oh God, this is not good..." Tess cries. Jodi walks away, screaming and crying. Kate tries to stay calm and goes sitting next to Nick. Alex jumps out of his tractor and runs as fast as he can.

"Stevie!" He desperatly yells. When Alex falls on to his knees beside Stevie, Nick stands up to comfort his pregnant and panicing wife.

"Come on cowgirl, hang in there..." Alex calmly says to his unconscious lover. Fiona is observing her fiancée with several emotions.

"What the hell are you guys doing? Call an ambulance, now!" Alex yells. He's so shocked, his eyes are wet and red. The expression on his face is almost the same when he found Claire.

"We're going to get you out of here. Stevie? You hear me?"

Alex tries to remain calm, but inside he feels like a part of him dies. He looks at her in the most loving and -at the same time- anxious way. But all of a sudden he stands up and starts to run around, with his hands in his hair.

"We need a shovel or something." He suddenly says.

"Jodi and I will take the jute to get one, you stay here, she needs her best mate." Kate says. She runs towards Jodi and talks some sense in to her. Then they leave, it's a race against the clock.

Nick managed to calm down Tess a little bit and leaves her sitting in the grass, from a distance.

"I need you here Nick!" Alex yells again. Nick immediately runs to his brother.

"Maybe we can pull this thing up and then Fiona can pull Stevie out." Alex hopes. Fiona looks shocked too, but is also a tough woman.

"I think I can manage, it's a good idea baby." She says. Nick isn't sure of this at all, but it's worth to give it a try.

When they try to pull, Stevie wakes up because of the intense pain she feels. She looks around and is in shock.

"Alex." She says with a very weak voice. But the others are busy to get her out of there. Too bad it's not working...

"Don't let it fall...easy! Easy!" Alex yells, very concerned. Nick is also very concerned and tries to do everything he can, but unfortunately the windmill is to heavy to hold it in the right position for a few seconds.

"Alex..." Stevie moans again. Fiona is sitting next to her, finding it hard that she calls for her fiancée, but at the same time she feels sorry for Stevie.

"He's right here Stevie." She says. Nick and Alex stop the pulling and head to their women again.

"Hey, good, you're awake...Don't worry we'll get you out of here." He says in a soothing way.

"Alex..." Stevie moans again and rolls her eyes.

"Hey, stay with us ok? You're doing great, you are so strong cowgirl." He calmly says.

"Is she going to make it?" Fiona asks, not really tactical.

"Off-course she will, what kind of question is that!" Alex snaps before he focuses on Stevie again. He caresses her cheeks, like he did last night.

"We...we have to..." Stevie moans.

"The only thing we have to do is get you out of here and we will." Alex says.

"...Say...goodbye..." Stevie whispers, tears are running down her cheeks.

"No, no not yet cowgirl...this isn't goodbye yet. Hang in there." Alex says, forcing himself not to cry. Stevie looks at Fiona and then at Alex again...

"You two...be happy..." She cries. Fiona starts to cry, but Alex looks a little bit mad now.

"Don't worry Stevie, hang in there, we will be happy." And he keeps eye contact with Stevie. Fiona feels flattered and is touched, she had never expected Stevie to say something like that. Stevie rolls with her eyes again, she looks so pale and it seems like she's going unconscious again.

"Stay with me Stevie." Alex begs. But she's not answering. Alex is so concerned...He looks around him.

"Where's that damn ambulance!" He yells at his brother, feeling extremely helpless. Then he focuses on Stevie again...

"Stevie, don't you die! You hear me?...Don't you dare! Don't you leave me...I love you." He speaks from the heart. Fiona can't believe what she just heard and stands up.

"What? What did you just said to her?" She says. But Alex isn't responding to her, instead he stays fully focussed on Stevie.

"Stuff it, you bastard!" And she runs away.

Nick and Tess heard Alex declaring his love for Stevie. Tess decides to follow Fiona. Nick goes sitting with Alex, staring at him with a questioning look in his eyes. Alex notices that it might've helped what he just said, because Stevie is now clearly looking at him. She looks sweet and calm now. Alex takes his eyes of her for a moment and looks at his brother.

"That's right, I love her...I've said it, it's time to be 'me' again mate." He says to his brother, to convince him, but there's no need for that.

"It's ok Alex. Just stay with her and keep on talking to her like that, it helps." Nick nods.

"When this is all over, we're going to be together Stevie, I promise."

"I..love you.." Stevie responds, very weak.

"I know you do cowgirl. Shh...Don't talk, safe your strength." He says while he gently strokes her forehead. Then Stevie moves her hand, Nick notices and touches it.

"You'll be fine, trust us." Nick says.

"We've had ..a great time together..Alex." Stevie moans, still trying to say goodbye. Alex shakes his head in disbelieve and sadness. He starts to feel a little empty, because they can't do nothing but wait. Nick stands up for him.

"Don't give up Stevie, you're such a strong woman, you will pull trough this. Don't say goodbye, you can't leave all of us, especially Alex." Nick calmly tries convince her.

"I feel nothing..." Stevie responds. The Ryan brothers know that's not a good sign, but they try to hold on to their believes.

After a while Jodi and Kate are back with a shovel...Alex starts to dig like crazy.

"Luckely she's underneath the supporting beam, it gives her some space to breath properly.." Kate says.

"I don't want to think about what would've happened if one of the main beams would've hit her." Jodi responds.

"There's no need to bring this up now girls." Nick snaps while he shovels with his hands to help his brother. The girls keep their mouths shut and help digging.

"Alex...it's not working..." Stevie suddenly says.

"Off-course it will. Don't give up! Fight for us will ya." Alex says with a raised voice. The girls already noticed that Fiona left, but now it's clear why she left. Jodi looks at Kate.

"See?"

"This is not the time to play 'I told you so' games Jode." Kate says while she's digging. They shut up again. It's dumb to say those kind of things, but when the nerves and adrenalin start to rise anything can be said...It keeps them going.

Jodi wants to say something to cheer Stevie up a bit.

"Stevie, I forgot to tell you, but we gave Banjo a nice shower early this morning...He was full of dust and dirt, because of the storm...You can ride him real soon, we'll go with you – don't we Kate?- And make a nice long ride together." Jodi says to comfort Stevie.

"And I'll get you a new saddle cowgirl." Alex adds.

"My old one..is just fine.." Stevie responds. They all carefully smile.

"Oh and we also washed Turbo, he actually loved it." Jodi adds.

After a few minutes the ambulance is almost there...They can hear it coming. Tess is also walking to her friends and husband again, she looks a little stronger now and is holding something. She tries to run fast.

"Get in the tractor Alex!" She yells form a distance. Alex looks up and notices she brought some chains with her, so he throws down the shovel and runs towards her to get the chains. Nick follows him and they both manage to attach the chains within 5 minutes. The ambulance staff is already with Stevie to check up on her, give her something for the pain and to help get the windmill up.

Alex takes his seat in the tractor and Jodi and Kate do a great job to help the brothers to get the thing up on his feet.

Within minutes it is done...Finally. The ambulance workers manage to get Stevie on a stretcher. She needs to go to the hospital, Alex wants to go with them.

"Are you her husband?"

"I will be, once." He answers. Everyone smiles and Alex is invited to go with Stevie to the hospital.

When the ambulance leaves, the onces who are left behind hug ech other.

"I guess I never realised stormy weather could do so much harm to us." Tess says.

"But it also brings new love." Nick adds.

"There was nothing new about it." Tess responds.

"I hope she will be ok." Kate says, with tears welling up in her eyes.

"She will, she's tough, we all know that." Nick says.

"We should head for the hospital too." Tess says.

"I reckon junior here had enough stress for now wifey." Nick says, while he caresses her belly.

"Little Junior here is doing just fine and he wants to know how auntie Stevie's doing." Tess says. The girls laugh, Nick looks a bit amazed.

" 'He'?" Now they all laugh and walk to the house, to take the jute to go to the hospital.

Stevie is asleep when she's finally lying in bed, at the hospital. Alex stayed closely by her side the whole time and is now waiting for her to wake up. She's been trough a few tests and the doctor examined her very well. She has a few broken ribs, but there are no life threatening injuries. And after some rest and recovering from several bruises and some small wounds she will be fine again. But because of the shock and pain she's not woke up yet...Alex feels worried. But Stevie isn't at all. She is dreaming...like the accident never happened...

_It's been a long day, the girls and the boys 'next' door fixed everything around their properties. Tess and Nick invited Alex for diner. Kate and Jodi prepare a great meal, which everyone deserves after this day of hard work. _

_Stevie is totally exhausted, not just because of all the work they all did, but also after that long night she had with Alex. And now he's coming to diner...So everyone will probable notice that special look on their faces when they look at each other, the sparkles in their eyes, the secret love things between them... Or maybe not. Stevie should benefit the fact that they're having a fight, it makes it easier to pretend that she is not in love with him, right? She wonders when Fiona will show up again, she should be home already, or maybe they'll turn up together? She definitely doesn't hope that, it makes her stomach ache._

_Stevie and Tess set the table, while Nick gets some cold beers for everyone, accept for his pregnant wife off-course._

"_I'm starving...We really deserve a cold one and a good meal." Nick says, while he's on his way to the kitchen to grab the drinks. The phone rings, Stevie answers it._

"_Drovers run." She says, very self-confident, but that attitude changes fast._

"_Fiona...Eh no, Alex isn't around..." She says, trying to hide her real feelings at that moment._

"_Yes, he's probably on his way here." Tess immediately looks at Stevie, she feels compassion for the whole situation and she suddenly realises how hard it must be. She walks towards Stevie._

"_I'm sure he won't mind...Yeah I'll pass it on..."_

"_Bye." When she puts down the phone she looks numb, she stares at Tess and walks towards her, it's almost like she walks in slow-motion. Tess whispers:_

"_That was some conversation you've just had."_

"_You can't imagine how bad I feel right now..." Stevie sighs. Tess puts one arm around her._

"_Hey I'm sure it will all turn out right...eventually." She says with a soothing smile. Stevie shakes her head._

"_I never felt so insecure and guilty..." _

"_I just knew something had happened between you and Alex. Wanna talk about it?" Tess says._

"_No...yes, maybe later...We can't talk about it right now." She whispers. Then her eyes are getting a little bigger while she stares at the doorway. It's Alex who is entering the room._

"_Am I interrupting something?" He says a little bit suspicious._

"_Hello to you too..." Tess says, as if nothing is going on. Stevie turns her head in a different direction and walks towards the window, just to avoid Alex. Alex follows her with his eyes. He then walks to Tess and puts his hand on her belly._

"_How's Ryan junior doing?...And off-course his mum?" He smiles charming._

"_We're doing fine uncle Alex." Tess says with a baby voice._

"_If mummy is not working to hard..." Nick brakes in, when he puts the drinks on the table._

"_Let me get one for you too." Nick says to his brother, who has his eyes focussed on Stevie again, who is still staring out of the window._

"_Yeah, I could use one..." He says, with a much softer tone. _

_When the Jodi and Kate enter the room with lot's of food Stevie decides to turn around and sits down at the diner table. Alex and Nick are sitting next to each other, in front of Tess and Stevie. _

_When they all have diner there is some tension, Stevie is obviously quiet. Everyone notices. While Alex is sipping his beer he takes a quick look at her every now and then._

"_Fiona called...she's coming home later this evening..." Stevie suddenly says to Alex._

"_Thanks for passing it on." He smiles carefully. Stevie stands up and clears her throat. _

"_I'll get a few more drinks." Then she walks to the kitchen. _

_Everyone noticed the tension and the weird looks between Stevie and Alex, so their pretty quiet. Alex sighs and shakes his head...he feels like he's the one who has to explain it._

"_We're having a fight, I'm sorry about that." He confesses. Jodi and Kate look at him, waiting to hear more._

"_Another beer might help, I guess." He says. Now Jodi looks a bit disappointed, she wants to know why they're having a fight, what happened last night...Kate wants to know also, but isn't always as bold as Jodi can be. So she let's Jodi do the talking._

"_So you didn't had a friendly sleepover last night did you?" Jodi asks straight away. Tess stands up and decides to go and see if Stevie is ok. Nick looks awaiting now too._

"_What's this all about?" Alex asks suspicious, feeling a little scared about what Stevie might've said to them._

_"About you and Stevie I guess..." Nick says._

"_We just had a fight, ok? Like we've had so many times." Alex says annoyed. Now Kate wants to say something._

"_You guys are acting a little strange, we where just wondering what might've happened."_

"_It's non of your business actually." Alex says, feeling anger coming up._

"_Let's get on with diner and forget about what's going on, everything will be probable just fine tomorrow or the day after." Nick stands up for his brother, but in fact he feels that there's more going on too._

"_Righto." Alex says, while he pulls a face at the girls._

_Tess finds Stevie in the kitchen, who is holding on tightly to the kitchen sink with both hands. Her head bowed down, her whole body is feeling numb. When Tess is placing her hand softly on her back, Stevie brakes down and cries._

"_I love him so much." She cries._

"_I know you do." Tess says very calm._

"_It's too late...this will never work." Stevie admits._

"_But, what happened, what did he say to you Stevie?" Tess asks. Stevie takes a short pause, trying to pull herself together._

"_He said he loved me, he had a whole confession and I believed him." She says while she turns her head towards Tess, who is ready to give her friend a big hug._

"_And now you don't believe him any more?" Tess responds while she hugs her._

"_I don't know what to think."_

"_Maybe you should still believe in it."_

"_He's about to get married."_

"_Maybe not..." Tess smiles when Stevie looks at her. Tess continues._

"_He wouldn't just say something like that, Alex is a very honest person, you know that."_

_Before Stevie can respond Alex is entering the room. The amazed look in his face changes in a sweet and happy look when he sees Stevie wiping tears of her face. He walks towards her and then Tess knows it's time for her to leave the kitchen._

"_Hey...hey...What's going on ey?" He says in a soothing way, while he touches her shoulders._

_Stevie wants to talk, but when their eyes meet she gets al weak inside and tears run down her cheeks again. She sniffs, while he cups her face with his hands, trying to whipe the tears with his thumbs. When he notices she can't stop the tears from coming, he decides to embrace her._

"_Come here cowgirl..." He says, with a warm sound in his voice. They both hold on to each other very tightly, but not for to long, because someone might 'catch' them. For a while ago this wouldn't be a problem, because they where best mates, but everything changed a lot in one night._

_When they both pull away, Stevie takes a quick look at him and then walks towards the fridge to get some drinks..._

"_Well...aren't you going to say something?" He says._

"_There's nothing to say Alex."_

"_Let's forget about the fight."_

"_This has nothing to do with our fight..." Stevie says, while she looks at him again. Alex pulls up his shoulders, the expression on his face is saying that he doesn't get the point._

"_I just don't know how to act when I'm around you. I probable should feel happy, but..." While she's talking Alex comes a little closer and now puts one finger on her lips._

"_Sssh...you're right, you should feel happy...and hold on to that." He says._

"_But..." She wants to talk, but Alex interrupts her again..._

"_There's nothing more I can give you right now, ok? Please be happy. Because of everything I told ya and because of everything we found out last night. That's about it Steve's." He looks at her in a funny way, to chear her up a bit._

"_I don't know how to feel happy right now..." Then their quiet for a moment, just staring at each other._

"_You're about to get married..." Stevie adds._

"_Says who?" Alex responds and waits a moment before he adds a smile to that. Stevie pulls up her shoulders._

"_Like I said, I can't give you more...nothing more than I already did." He continues._

"_You don't look happy ether." Stevie says_

"_That's because of the fact that my fiancée is coming home and I don't know how to act."_

"_Well, that's exactly the reason why I don't feel happy, now you get it?" She forces a smile on her face. But then she looks a little angry all of a sudden._

"_How can you still call her 'your fiancée'?"_

"_Look, you're making this even harder, I'm not here to fight." Alex says, then turns around to walk to the others. Stevie quickly follows and tries to pull him back._

"_I'm sorry, I don't want to fight ether...I'll try to be happy ok? For you." She says._

"_Good on ya." He nods. They walk towards the diner table together but before everyone can hear them Alex adds:_

"_It just takes time, everything will be all right, trust me. I'll choose you anyway." He smiles._

_Now Stevie finally feels happiness coming up. That was just what she needed to hear, that he will choose her._

"_What's going on here?" Fiona suddenly yells at them._

"_I'm just talking with my best mate, what's wrong with you?" Stevie says, feeling a little caught, but not guilty. Fiona can't look at Stevie, but gives her one quick humiliating look..and then she turns to Alex again._

"_You choose HER anyway? What does that suppose to mean!"She rages._

"_I was planning to talk to ya about this Fi...I'm sorry it has to be this way..." Alex tries to explain. _

_Stevie doesn't want to inter fear, but is still staying in the same room, she definitely wants to hear him say it...Hear him declare his love for Stevie to someone else and the best part is that Fiona is going to be the first one to hear it. Inside Stevie is enjoying herself, but also feels a little sorry for Alex to be in this position..._

"_What? What Alex?..We're not even married yet and you're trying to tell me something... you're cheating on me right?" Fiona yells, she's so angry. Alex is perplexed._

"_I'm not crazy Alex! I was gone for one night and you just couldn't get a hold on yourself now could you?..." Then she turns to Stevie, her eyes are spitting fire, she continues._

"_You just couldn't get your hands of her." She takes a quick look at Stevie "You bitch". Then she turns to Alex again, "I new you couldn't! You know, you two are made for each other! Good luck to you, go and make each others life like hell..." And she runs away..._

_Alex didn't even said something, he didn't get the chance to explain, so he runs after her._

"_Fi, just let me explain!"_

"_I don't need your explanations__...I new from the minute I got here something was going on between you two and it wasn't just 'best mates'. Get lost you bastard and leave me alone!" She leaves Drovers Run..._

_Alex wants to go after her, but Nick stops him. He just heard from Tess what's going on._

"_Hey mate, she wasn't the one and you knew it al along..." Nick says to his brother, while he puts his arm around him, to walk him back into the house._

"_...Stevie's still in the kitchen by the way." Nick adds with a smile, Alex nods._

_When Alex and Nick walk back in the girls are talking to Stevie, to find out what's going on. Jodi pulls a face at Kate when they find out that it's true, Stevie and Alex are in love. Stevie looks a bit frightened and insecure, will Alex return? Why does he runs after someone who he doesn't love? But then she sees him entering the room again. Tess winks at everyone to leave the room, just to give them some space._

_Stevie can't say a word when Alex walks towards her...He looks relieved and gives her a sweet glance._

"_See?..I told ya, I'll choose you anyway..." He says, very charming._

_Stevie walks at him to fall into his arms. Then there's a loving embrace, followed by a long amd passionate kiss._

The kiss suddenly stops when Stevie slowly wakes up from her dream. She finds Alex a sleep on her side. He's sitting on a oncomfarteble chair, with his upper body bowed down and resting on the bed. She has to move a bit to take a better look at the love of her life. But it hurts to move, she moans. She gently touches his hair and then strokes it. She wants to say something to wake him up.

"...Choose me..." She says. Because of the medication she feels a bit dull. She wonders if that dream was real, or at least part of it.

Alex wakes up immediately when he hears her voice. He sighs and looks at her with a inquisitive and waiting expression on his face...He gives her all the time to talk to him.

"..."Choose me..." She slowly says again. She looks pale and tired. Alex smiles very cute.

"I already did." He says and explains everything that has happened.

Now Stevie is the one who looks inquisitive. Not just because of what has happened but also because of that dream...was it trying to tell her something? She decides to wait and listen.

"I choose you Stevie." It makes Stevie feel so happy and she smiles at him. He gives her a sweet kiss on the forehead and then moves his head to her ear.

"You just need a little extra TLC." He sensually whispers. It makes Stevie smile...

"Don't make me laugh, it hurts like hell." She whispers. Alex laughs...Then Stevie adds.

"What do you know about TLC?"

"Teasing, Love and Care, right?" He answers...Stevie has to laugh about it, but thats painful.

"Oah...I said; don't make me laugh...change the 'T' into Tender." She answers.

"I reckon I can give that to ya, maybe even more...If you're nice to me." He flirts and gives her a few kisses on her cheeks, but suddenly he looks more serious.

"It's just you and me now ey...And you're so much more than my best friend." He whispers.

Stevie puts her hand on the back of his head and slowly stretches her fingers, so they're getting struggled in his hair, she pulls him closer, takes a deep breath and whispers.

"Then don't kiss me like a best mate...here, I'll show you how to do this." And she directly pulls him towards her, until her lips touches his. They haven't kissed liked that before...Butterflies are filling their stomachs and for a moment it feels like there's no one on the world, except the two of them.

"I love you cowgirl."

"I love you too Alex...I love you so much..."

"I love you more." He adds in a funny way.

"No you can't, 'cause I love YOU more." Stevie smiles.

"Wanna bet?" He responds. They both laugh. And another kiss follows.

The end.


End file.
